Lake County Sentinel
Riverside moves to 6-0 with blowout of Rebels
BY JOEY SCHNEIDER
STAFF
(PAINESVILLE TOWNSHIP, OH) - The Riverside Beavers rolled the Willoughby South Rebels on Friday 56-8 in their Homecoming game. South never had a chance dealing while dealing with a myriad of injuries, and the Beavers were their most dominant this year.
The Beavers coming into the game were ranked seventh in Division II in the state. Led by head coach Dave Bors, they are big, tough, and fast. You wouldn't expect anything less from a team that has Bryan Doberdruk as its strength and conditioning coach.
South lead by Matt Duffy has been hit by the injury bug all year and was without quarter-back’s sophomore Liam Coyne and senior Gabe Hanslik. Two of their best wide receivers’ seniors Delond Moss and Gavin McArthur were also out.
Riverside won the toss and deferred to the second half, South was first to receive the ball.
Riverside poured it on in the first half. South sophomore quarterback Jayvyn Gilchrist threw an interception on the third play of the game as Beavers senior linebacker Sam Salminen jumped the pass over the middle for the interception and took it 17 yards for the defensive touchdown and first score of the game.
Riverside's next drive ended with senior quarterback Mikey Maloney taking it in himself for a score from six yards out making it 14-0.
After another stop by the Beaver defense, Maloney found the speedy senior wide receiver Brady McKnight over the middle of the field for a 27-yard touchdown, ending the first quarter 21-0.
The second quarter was more of the same as Riverside and quarterback Mikey Maloney scored first as Maloney ran it in on a 15-yard scramble, his second score of the half. Senior running back Jason Mackey added a 34-yard touchdown after the Beavers defense stifled the Rebels again, extending the lead to 35-0.
On the very first play of South's next drive Riverside's middle linebacker Sam Salminen again intercepted a pass from South's Gilchrist and took it 20 yards for his second pick six of the game, running up the score to 42-0 going into halftime.
South tried their best to score right before half as senior wide receiver Terrion Singleton caught a 42-yard pass from Gilchrist and was downed at the three-yard line, but the Rebels fumbled two plays later that was recovered by Riverside.
Riverside received the ball first in the second half, and it would be the starters last drive of the night as Maloney connected on two more passes of eight yards each before taking the drive into his own hands and scoring on a 41-yard touchdown run making it three for the game. The drive did take almost half the third quarter as by this time the running clock was in effect.
Mikey Maloney would finish his night 11/14 for 151 yards and one touchdown through the air and he ran the ball five times for 77 yards and three scores.
Riverside and South pulled all their starters and played freshman and sophomores with about 6:00 minutes left in the third quarter.
Riverside was able to score once more as running back Kyndall McCaleb scored the Beavers final touchdown of the night a 23-yard run and made the score 56-0.
South fought to the very end and was able to avoid the shutout with under a minute left in the game as freshman quarterback Luke Jensen connected with wide receiver sophomore Car-men Valente for South's only touchdown of the game. They also linked up on a two-point conversion bringing the score to 56-8, and that's where the score would stay, with the final 56-8.
Coach Bors after the game talked about being 6-0 and how the kids keep their focus. "These guys did a great job. We had hard practices all week and they responded. It's everybody. A phenomenal coaching staff, the players have bought in. We have the support of the commu-nity, and parents, and families. It takes everyone to have a program that's successful like this."
Sam Salminen was asked about his two defensive touchdowns. "It's a great feeling. I feel like myself as a leader, and our team has taken a huge step up this year, especially the senior class and it just feels great. We just have to keep doing what we are doing.
Riverside takes on (2-4) Eastlake North next in Eastlake, while Willoughby South will be at home taking on the (3-3) Chardon Hilltoppers. Both games are on September 29th and will have 7:00 pm start times. .
POSTED 09/22/2023 23:43
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Photo by Joey Schneider