Riverside has championship opportunity

Things didn’t go well for Riverside’s football team last week.

The Panthers went on the road to face a McKenzie team that hadn’t won in five games.

Riverside, meanwhile, was riding high into the game after playing itself into position to win a region championship this week.

But the Panthers weren’t focused and took a 31-point loss to the Rebels.

“I think it was just a matter of our guys not being focused on that game that night,” said Riverside head coach Johnnie Frost. “But I know what definitely happened was McKenzie is a good football team that played for four quarters when we didn’t and simply outplayed us.”

The good thing for the Panthers is that loss doesn’t affect their region standings and could actually turn out to be a good thing.

“You never want to lose a game, but if that loss will help us be more prepared this week and next week in the playoffs, then I’ll deal with it,” Frost said. “I hope we learned lessons from it like you’ve got to be focused on this game you’re playing at this time and nothing else.”

This game this week is against Waverly, an 8-1 team that hasn’t been challenged very often. The one loss the Tigers took was to undefeated Class 3A champion Fairview by a point.

“Waverly’s good,” Frost said. “They’re a fast team with a lot of athleticism, and they’ll be hard to stop.”

Both teams have their share of athletes. Waverly’s quarterback and running back have given a couple of other West Tennessee teams – Camden and Scotts Hill – problems earlier in the season.

Two weeks after Riverside posted a 35-21 comeback win over Scotts Hill, Waverly went to Scotts Hill and stopped the Lions defensively with a 40-0 win.

“They’re eerily similar to Scotts Hill in how they keep their offense balanced,” Frost said. “They can beat you with their ground game or with the pass.

“And just like Scotts Hill, both of them are hard to stop.”

But it’s senior night and the final home game of the regular season for the Panthers. It could also be the final home game of 2016 since another one isn’t guaranteed after this week.

If Riverside loses and Lewis County and Scotts Hill both win this week, that will force a three-way tie Lewis County would win because of more overall victories. That would knock Riverside back to third place and a road trip to the Region 6-2A runner-up team that will be decided between Trinity Christian and Jackson Christian.

“Keeping the ramifications of this game in mind I think would help motivate the kids, so we have talked about it,” Frost said. “But more than anything, we want them ready to come out and try to win a football game.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751