Lake County Sentinel
Riverside outlasts the Tigers 42-30
BY JOEY SCHNEIDER
STAFF
(PAINESVILLE TOWNSHIP, OH) - It was a big fight feel on Friday at Riverside Stadium as The Beavers hosted the Twinsburg Tigers in the second round of the Ohio football playoffs. Twinsburg bussed in students on their "Spirit Busses" and the stadium was near capacity and rocking the entire game as the teams went back and forth, in a physical game that ended with the Riverside Beavers standing tall and getting the win 42-30.
Riverside won the toss and deferred to the second half. Twinsburg had the ball first, and showed Riverside from the opening kickoff they were not afraid to take risks, going for it on fourth downs multiple times before being stopped.
The Beavers offense once again was led by the three headed monster of quar-terback Mikey Maloney, wide receiver Brady McKnight, and running back Jason Mackey. Riverside's first drive ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Maloney to Mackey to give the Beavers the early lead 7-0.
The Tigers recovered a fumble on Riverside's second drive and settled for a field goal by senior kicker Tyler Seegert to end the first quarter with Riverside ahead 7-3.
Again, Riverside fumbled, their third of the half, deep in their own territory and Twinsburg junior quarterback Joey Pollock made them pay for it as he found senior wide receiver Jaden Dye across the middle in the end zone for a five-yard touchdown and giving the Tigers their first lead of the night, 10-7.
Riverside wouldn't let the Twinsburg hold the lead for long they drove down the field and capped off the drive with a Mikey Maloney 22-yard touchdown run giving the lead back to the Beavers, 14-10.
The defenses battled it out back and forth the second quarter until Riverside broke through again as Maloney found Brady McKnight on a slant, then broke multiple tackles, and ran it 24 yards for the score with 0:54 seconds left in the half extending the Beavers lead to 21-10 going into halftime.
After the break, Riverside went three and out and Twinsburg had renewed energy as senior running back Aiden Stuczynski 53-yards on their first play of the half setting up a Joey Pollock touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Cam Wright cutting the lead to 21-17.
The defenses again stepped up in the third not allowing another score until late in the quarter when Jason Mackey ran it in from five yards out giving the Beavers some breathing room, 28-17.
The fourth quarter was full of fireworks and big plays. The first of which was a 34-yard scramble to the end zone by Mikey Maloney, putting the game out of reach, 35-17.
Twinsburg had no quit in them. They answered with another touchdown connection between Joey Pollock and Cam Wright to bring the score to 35-24 with 1:50 left in the game.
It only took two plays for Riverside to answer back as Mikey Maloney broke off a 47-yard run and Jason Mackey to finish it with a 27-yard score. Twinsburg came right back with the no quit attitude as Joey Pollock hit senior wide receiver CJ Lyden for 57-yards and Pollock ran it in himself on a three-yard score with 35 seconds left, in a frenzied final two minutes. Riverside was able to recover the onside kick and took a knee to end the game 42-30.
After the game Riverside coach Dave Bors gave his thoughts on his team. "We saw some resiliency; we saw our guys have to step up and battle. That team (Twinsburg) we have a lot of respect for that team. They have gotten a lot better as the season has gone on." We're definitely excited about the way our guys bounced back with the turnovers, we could have given up many times, but we didn't." Coach Bors also praised his defense for being put into positions and be-ing able to battle all night.
Next up for Riverside will be their toughest opponent yet as they will face off against the juggernaut that is Archbishop Hoban whose only loss this year came to St. Edwards 14-7. The game is next Friday, November 10th at 7:00 PM at a neutral site that has yet to be determined.
POSTED 11/04/2023 01:39
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Photo by Joey Schneider
