By RYAN ARENA

RESULT

By RYAN JONES

Special to L’Observateur

Coming off of a blowout 48-0 loss against District 9-2A rival John Curtis, Riverside Academy was looking to bounce back in its homecoming match-up against W.L. Cohen Friday. Though the Rebels (4-2) experienced some special teams trouble, they recovered from last week’s setback behind the force of a strong ground attack and a stout defense, defeating the Green Hornets 56-20.

“You need to have thick skin,” head coach Mickey Roussel said. “I think our senior leadership is good. They know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We have a 10-game season, so you’ve got to let go of what happened last week. And that’s what we did.”

Junior running back Jonquial Sanders led a Riverside rushing assault that finished the game with 321 yards. Sanders tallied 197 yards, which included a pair of 42-yard touchdown runs, on 16 carries. Senior Nate Williams also pitched in 55 yards and a score on nine carries.

“We had been struggling to run the ball a little bit. We had been throwing it pretty decent. We challenged our offensive line. They didn’t play well last week, and they stepped up their game. Obviously, [Sanders] and Nate Williams have to get some credit. We hope that continues, and if it does, we’re going to continue to win some football games.”

The primary sore spot, however, was the lack of resistance that Riverside’s kick coverage team offered the Hornets. Though the Rebels defense pitched a shutout, Cohen still managed to score three touchdowns off of long kick returns by speedy junior tailback Lamont Massey.

Late in the game, even the public address announcer tried to warn Riverside that it needed to kick away from Massey, though it was to no avail. Massey ended up with the ball on every Rebels kickoff and finished the game with 302 total kick return yards, scoring on runbacks of 91, 88 and 86 yards. Roussel attributed the team’s coverage struggles to recent personnel changes on special teams.

“We have about five guys we took off of [kickoff coverage],” Roussel said. “They had nicks and bumps and bruises. The returns were driving me crazy. I think that’s the only thing that we didn’t do tonight. We didn’t cover. We’re going to fix that for next week.”

Massey also had one more first quarter kick return called back after a clipping penalty which occurred away from his return. He led the Hornets offense with 53 total rushing and receiving yards.

Riverside, however, took advantage of numerous Cohen miscues. The visitors committed 10 penalties for 58 yards, including seven false starts. The Hornets also committed two turnovers: an interception which killed its best drive of the game and an early fumble. The fumbled, forced by eighth-grade linebacker Evan Veron, was returned 40 yards for Riverside’s third touchdown of the first quarter.

The Rebels passing game was hit or miss, as senior quarterback Tate Scioneaux completed 9 of 18 passes for 116 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Williams, his leading receiver, reeled in three passes for 57 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown pass that put Riverside up 7-0 with 9:38 remaining in the first quarter.

Cohen immediately struck back with a Massey return and missed two-point conversion that drew the Hornets within one, but the Rebels recovered quickly with a 2-yard Williams touchdown run on the next drive.

Riverside scored on its first four possessions and controlled the ball for most of the first half, limiting the Hornets’ offensive opportunities. Cohen ran just 19 plays before halftime, including just seven in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter scoring onslaught, the Rebels found themselves up 21-6.

Capping an 11-play, 77-yard drive, bruising running back Grady Gieger rumbled into the end zone with a 17-yard run that put Riverside up 28-6 to start the second quarter. Gieger was one of nine Rebels to record a rushing attempt and one of four who scored a touchdown.

The Hornets appeared poised to respond after a 36-yard Massey reception on the team’s next possession, but junior cornerback Kandon Guidry picked off a pass two plays later to end the drive.

Scioneaux threw his second score of the game with 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter to senior receiver Brandon Millet. The Rebels ended the first half up by a comfortable 35-14 margin and cruised to victory.

Riverside will once again play at home next week, facing off against non-district opponent Miller-McCoy Academy Friday.

PREVIEW

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — Coach Mickey Roussel has seen his Rebels bounce back from losses like Friday’s 48-0 District 9-2A defeat at the hands of top-ranked John Curtis. Quite recently, in fact.

It was just last season that the Patriots upended the Rebels in lopsided fashion; a week later, the Rebels fell to rival St. Charles. But after that, Riverside won its next five to reach the state quarterfinals.

Roussel expects his players to have a short memory in similar fashion, a view emboldened by what he said was a strong practice on Monday.

“I wanted to see the intensity back at practice, and there was no hangover,” said Roussel. “Nobody was hanging their head. They all want to get back on the field.

“This senior class is one of the best I’ve had as far as leadership. We went out today and had a real good, crisp practice. We were in the same situation last year and we came out of it alright. I anticipate the same thing.”

Riverside (3-2) will play its homecoming game Friday as it continues district play, hosting Cohen (1-2). Cohen secured its first victory of the season last week, downing Clark 36-2. Its previous games saw it lose 45-0 to Curtis and 25-8 at Southern Lab.

“They were struggling before that game,” Roussel said of Cohen’s win. “They made some big plays, had a long interception return, a punt return, a fumble return. We can’t let that happen.

“My main concern is when you have homecoming, it’s always full of distractions. But the players we have, I expect we’ll be okay.”

Against Curtis, mistakes tend to be magnified, and that was the case Friday. In two games last season, including their quarterfinal loss to the Patriots, Riverside saw Curtis open up a big lead after a string of crucial Rebel mistakes.

Last week, Curtis led 7-0 after an 82-yard touchdown run by Sherman Badie. Riverside looked to have stolen back the momentum after an apparent interception by Josh Ladner, but a holding call on the line of scrimmage negated the play. Curtis (5-0) scored after regaining possession on a 13-yard scoring pass from Patrick Morton to Tre’ Perrier.

From there, things spiraled downward for the Rebels. Curtis recovered fumbles on two straight kickoff returns, scoring after the first on a Raekown James 22-yard touchdown run. Riverside stopped Curtis after the second on Tate Scioneaux’s interception of Morton in the redzone, but Riverside could not get its offense on track against a Curtis defense that controlled the line of scrimmage.

“It was a mismatch up front, and we expected as much,” said Roussel. “Everyone sees the skill players we lost, but we lost four really good lineman on each side of the ball. We knew we didn’t match up well with them at all there. So you want to force a couple turnovers and play smart football … but once you’re down by 20, all you can do is keep plugging away.”

Curtis led 34-0 at halftime.

Riverside began moving the ball better in the second half, but could not get on the scoreboard as drives stalled out in Curtis territory. Dropped passes plagued Riverside throughout the game.

Roussel said the mistakes were uncharacteristic and that he felt his team would do a good job correcting it going forward.

“Those things, an 82-yard run on a missed assignment, a holding call, two fumbles … we did those things to ourselves and buried ourselves in a hole,” he said. “We had been playing well. It wasn’t the culmination of a few weeks of bad play. But Friday, we just want to get back on track.”