Pearl River comes in with a 5-0-overall record, while Riverdale is 2-3.
Both teams are entering tonight’s tilt after winning their district opener. Pearl River knocked off East Jefferson, 29-14.
 Twillie |
When the teams met last season, Pearl River won 47-21. In that game, running back James Gillum ran for 361 yards on 11 carries and six touchdowns.
But that was last year. PRHS coach Joe Harris said Riverdale has gotten better since last year.
“They are much improved in every aspect of the game,” Harris said. “Riverdale’s a dangerous opponent.”
This season, both teams have improved. PRHS has already matched last year’s win total, which ended up being a 5-5 season. Riverdale has already snapped two losing streaks. Its first win of the season, 13-9 over Grace King, was the school’s first victory since 2004 spanning 27 games.
First-year coach Stuart Bott, a 1987 graduate of Riverdale, was also a member of the 1986 team that snapped a 48-game losing streak.
One of the things Bott did to attempt to change Riverdale’s losing was to make the players sign a contract that they were committed to the program. He said the team started between 46-50 players and now is down to 30 due to people breaking the contract and other things.
On the field, Pearl River runs the Wing-T offense. The running backs are Gillum, Will Reed and Jeremiah Levy. Last week, Gillum went for 231 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. For the season, he has 77 carries for 665 yards and 10-rushing scores with another on a kickoff return.
Levy had a 3-yard run to pay dirt. Another player who has stepped up on both sides of the ball is junior Kendall Twillie. Last week, he caught a two-point conversion. Twillie plays running back and strong safety. Harris said Twillie has meant a lot to PRHS this season.
“Kendall Twillie continues to be the guy on both sides of the ball,” Harris said. “He can do it all. He knows the coverages on defense and all the plays on offense. He’s a real smart kid.”
Harris also said he feels his club is solid on the offensive line. For the last three weeks, Pearl River has had a running back run gain more than 180 yards in Gillum, Reed and Twillie. The men up front, who are seniors include, right guard Nick Gaines (5-foot-11, 210), left tackle William Howell (6-5, 275), right tackle Ethan Baragona (5-9, 330), center Justin Piglia (5-10, 269) and tight end Jacob Rester (5-11, 201). The only junior on the line is left guard Mason Lee (5-10, 193).
The quarterback is senior Matt Smith, who threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jacob Maxwell. The two also connected for a 28-yard gain.
They will be facing a defense that bases out of the 4-2-5, but will give different looks. Coach Bott said senior linebackers Paul Wallace and Russell Tannehill along with junior TyQuan Jordan has been playing well for him.
The line has four players that also compete on the offensive line, including senior Gilbert Thomas along with juniors Perry Guitroz, Travis Briggs and Randy Bass.
Offensively, Riverdale runs the pistol formation and the swinging gate. Fans of LSU football have seen the pistol formation where the quarterback lines up in the shotgun with a back behind him.
The signal caller for Riverdale is senior Antoine Williams, who had an outstanding game last week. He threw for 150 yards and three touchdowns, while running for 130 yards. Defensively, Williams had two interceptions and he returned one for a 32-yard score.
When he throws, he’ll be looking for senior Taylor Harper, who caught a pair of touchdowns and then turned around defensively and picked off two passes.
The running back is senior Ozzie Lennix, who ran for 120 yards last week.
Defensively, Pearl River runs an odd stack. In last week’s game, the unit allowed just 160 yards to East Jefferson. Stephen Arthur was in on 10 stops last week. Craig Domingue also had a sack, Blake Ladner intercepted a pass and Seth Craddock recovered a fumble for PRHS.
View Jobs
View Homes
View Autos
Comments