H.S. FOOTBALL: Adamsville pulls away from Riverside

ADAMSVILLE – — The Adamsville Cardinals took advantage of momentum swings against Riverside High School on Friday night, beating the Panthers 42-14.

Adamsville head coach Brandon Gray has been patiently waiting for his team to come together and jell this season, preaching a philosophy to his players of “we, not me,” and Friday night the Cardinals were the perfect embodiment of this idea.

“Coming together as a team is something we talked about all week,” said Gray. “We’re still trying to do that but I think tonight we really put that idea into practice and it showed on the scoreboard. We’re starting to have older guys teaching younger guys what to do and where to line up and what steps to take, and when you see that happening you’ll be pretty tough.”

Adamsville quickly asserted itself offensively, with senior Chris Irons breaing a 63-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second possession.

Riverside limited Adamsville to only one touchdown and drove into the red zone twice.

What looked to be a close game was blown open by Adamsville on the first play of the second quarter, however, as a blocked Riverside field goal attempt was run back by Adamsville senior Jacob Dengler.

From there the Cardinals’ momentum only grew, as they scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter before grinding Riverside to a halt in the closing seconds of the half.

With a yard to go and time for one more play, Riverside was stopped short of its first touchdown by inches, giving Adamsville all the momentum going into the second half.

“That was a big stop for us defensively,” Gray said. “You know, they score right there and it could have changed the whole game, so I was really proud of the way our team dug deep and showed a lot of heart right there.”

Riverside showed sparks of offense throughout the second half, but whatever momentum it managed to gain it also seemed to give away through a combination of penalties, sacks, and fumbles.

The Panthers went 70 yards in two plays to score on a 15-yard pass to Mason Stokes in the third. It wasn’t enough.

Adamsville goes on to host Collinwood next week, while Riverside is off.