After taking their first loss in 53 games, the Riverheads High School football team was anxious to get a new streak started. On Saturday afternoon, they did just that with a 35-12 victory over the Tazewell Bulldogs.
The Gladiators registered 369 yards total offense including 305 on the ground. Cody Cash had 13 carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
Riverheads Quarterback, Bennett Dunlap passed for 64 yards on five attempts and rushed for a touchdown.
After falling behind 7-0, Tazewell drove 7 plays and 74 yards for their first score. A 43-yard pass from Carter Creasy to Cassius Harris set-up a one-yard touchdown run by Creasy. The two-point conversion failed and the Gladiators had a 7-6 lead with three minutes left in the first half.
On their next drive, Dunlap started the drive by completing a 55-yard pass to Luke Bryant. After a Bulldog penalty, Bryant completed the drive with a 6-yard run for a touchdown increasing the Gladiators lead to 14-6 at halftime.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, the Bulldogs fumbled and Riverheads recovered. The Gladiators quickly answered with a touchdown and then recovered an onside kick. Four plays later, the Gladiators were in the end zone again and Riverheads lead had quickly ballooned to 28-6.
“It was a one possession game at halftime,” head coach J’me Harris said. “But the fumble call and then our breakdown on the onside kick was the big difference makers.”
Tazewell cut the lead to 28-12 when they scored on a 12-yard pass from Creasy to Logan McDonald in third. The pass play capped a 10-play, 67-yard drive.
However, Riverheads would score one more touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Gladiators would deny the Bulldogs with a late goal line stand.
“We made several key mistakes, but we’re competitors,” said Harris.
Creasy was 18 for 31 passing for 194 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a score. Cassius Harris led the Bulldog receivers with 7 catches for 84 yards. Logan McDonald added 6 catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.
The Bulldogs finished with 259 yards in total offense, but they managed just 59 yards rushing on 22 attempts.
Riverheads improves to 3-1 on the season and the Bulldogs fall to 2-3. Next up for the Bulldogs is a Friday night trip to Nelson Memorial Field to play the Grundy Golden Wave.
Tazewell has played an early season schedule featuring two long road trips and some of the very best teams in the state. The Bulldogs have already played the 2021 1A State Champions and the 2021 2A State runner-ups.
“We are hoping the early season schedule will help get us ready for a late season push, our guys have been tested.” Harris said.
