Lake County Sentinel
Beavers devour Rangers 43-14
BY JOEY SCHNEIDER
STAFF
(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Riverside Beavers continued their dominance once again Friday night in Eastlake at Nick Carter Stadium on National Guard night, with the Rangers wearing their camo uniforms, beating Eastlake North, 43-14.
Riverside was first to strike as they relied on the run the entire drive down field and senior Brady McKnight would put the first points on the board, as he scored on an end around that went 16 yards for a rushing touchdown.
The Rangers went three and out the entire first half. The Beaver’s defense was flying to the ball all night long.
Riverside senior quarterback Mikey Maloney was next to get in on the action as he ran the ball to the corner of the endzone and dove in for a 4- yard score, giving Riverside a 14-0 lead.
Senior running back Jason Mackey, the third head of this three headed monster of an of-fense, took the hand off on the offenses third series, and made a jump cut to the outside evading a defender, then another cut and was off to the races down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown with 2:28 still left in the first quarter, and Riverside now leading 21-0.
North finally stopped Riverside and on a 4th and 6 Mikey Maloney pooch punted the ball down to the one-yard line. After a few plays of the Rangers trying to get out of danger, junior line-backer Matt Priest was bearing down on Eastlake's senior quarterback Zach Rummel, and he stepped out of the back of the endzone for a safety.
After the safety Mikey Maloney made his only mistake of the game as he threw a deep ball into double coverage and the Ranger's junior defensive back Na'Shon Ivey made an incredi-ble catch for the interception at the 10-yard line. The celebration was short lived as two plays later Eastlake's Zach Rummel was picked off by linebacker Matt Priest. Riverside would capi-talize as Brady McKnight would get his second score of the game on an 8-yard rushing touchdown, all but putting the game out of reach 30-0.
Maloney and McKnight were not done as on the next drive they would connect on a 43-yard touchdown pass, inflating the lead to 37-0. Mikey Maloney finished the game 11/17, 178 yards 1 touchdown, 1 interception and 5 carries for 36 yards and a touchdown. Brady McKnight also had a big night with 3 receptions for 81 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 carries for 23 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Riverside would only keep their starters in for one series in the second half. They took the clock down to 5:17 in the third quarter before Jason Mackey would finish off a long drive with a 1-yard touchdown and ending his day with 13 carries for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns.
After the Beavers pulled their starters on defense, North would keep their starters in for one more drive to try and avoid the shutout and it only took one play for Eastlake's senior running back Reon'tae Lowery to break a few tackles and take the ball 76 yards for the Ranger's first score of the night. 43-7 Riverside heading into the fourth quarter.
North would lead a long drive capped off with a 2-yard touchdown run by senior running back Austin Gracie late in the fourth quarter. Riverside would run out the clock and move to 7-0 with a final score of 43-14.
Riverside head coach Dave Bors after the game talked about having a complete game on both sides of the ball. "After last week the next focus and vision was can, we do it again. We did it once, great, but now do it again, and we did. That's a scrappy team (Eastlake North) over there, they are well coached. We have a lot of respect for those guys over there, Coach Dodd and his staff."
Mikey Maloney, Jason Mackey, and Brady McKnight talked about relying on each other and being as dominant as they are. Mikey Maloney started, "It makes my job easy when you have two insane athletes like this." Jason Mackey said "These guys just make me look good. When you have to stop a guy like Mikey, it opens ups the run and are O-line was so physical upfront, it makes my job easy. Brady then said "It really is just everyone, not just us. The line, the play calling, everything. It all comes together. I wouldn't be able to score with some blocks down here. It really all comes together when you have a team like this.
Next up for Riverside is a tough test of their perfect record as they travel to Kenston to take on the 6-1 Bombers, led by star senior running back Sean Patrick. The Eastlake North Rang-ers will go down the road to take on the 1-6 Willoughby South Rebels in the "Battle of the Boarder". One of the biggest rivalries in Lake County.
POSTED 09/29/2023 23:52
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Beavers devour Rangers 43-14 - 09-29-2023
Photo by Joey Schneider
