Riverside tops Ellwood City
Ellwood City (7) vs. Riverside (34)
Written: Oct 30, 2009
By JOE SAGER
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
NORTH SEWICKLEY TWP. — The Riverside High football team bid farewell to its seniors last night.
The future looks pretty bright for the Panthers, though.
Senior Zach Snyder and sophomore Jared Desensi combined for 252 yards rushing as homestanding Riverside posted a 34-7 win over Ellwood City Lincoln in a Midwestern Athletic Conference battle.
Snyder tallied 151 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, while Desensi had 101 yards and two TDs on 12 totes.
“Before the game, we talked about it being Senior Night and we just wanted to come out and get this win,” Desensi said. “That was set in our minds for the seniors. We wanted to do it for them. We came out and played every down as hard as we could. I am going to miss those seniors a lot.”
The Wolverines (1-7 conference, 1-8 overall) struggled stopping the Panthers’ ground game all evening. When Riverside went to the air in the end zone, Codey Hunter stepped in front of a pass and returned it 30 yards.
Ellwood City marched 55 yards in nine plays as Hunter raced into the end zone from the 9 for an early 7-0 lead.
“We struggled defensively. We let them have the ball too long. When your defense is on the field that long, you’re going to bend. If it keeps bending, it will break. They scored and we had opportunities, but we just didn’t take advantage of them,” Ellwood City coach Don Phillips said. “I saw some bright spots. On the first drive, we made a nice play to stop them. We drove down and got the score. Right then, that’s where we just have to kick in that instinct to go. I give Riverside credit because their kids battled. They made some plays and we made some mistakes and the game got away from us.”
The Panthers (4-4. 4-5) dominated the rest of the first half. They marched 79 yards to tie the game at 7-all when Ray Crum scampered in from the 5 with 7:12 left in the second quarter.
After an Ellwood City punt, Riverside again dominated on the ground and needed only five plays to cover 46 yards. Desensi capped it when he broke loose from a pile, shed a shoe and a sock and reached the end zone for an 18-yard TD run and a 14-7 lead with 3:33 on the clock.
The hosts erupted in the third quarter. They recovered a Wolverines fumble on the first drove of the half. Snyder broke free for an 85-yard TD run. Riverside intercepted an Ellwood City pass on its next possession. This time, Desensi emerged for a 38-yard TD scamper and a 28-7 lead.
“That was huge. Everything just worked in our favor. It was great,” Desensi said. “We watched film all week and we figured, if we could run in the middle, that’d help. We did that and we were able to break some long runs outside.”
The Panthers added a Tom Mansfield 6-yard TD run in the fourth to earn the win.
Hunter led the Wolverines, who snapped their 31-game losing streak last week, with 49 yards on 13 carries. He added three catches for 30 yards.
ELLWOOD RIVERSIDE
12 First downs 20
119 Yards Rushing 327
38 Yards Lost 6
81 Net Rushing.........321
15 Passes Attempted 5
7 Passes Completed 1
2 Passes Intercepted 1
70 Yards Passing 10
151 Total Yards 331
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
3-29.3 Punts-Average 1-19
6-55 Penalties-Yards 7-82
ELLWOOD 7 0 0 0— 7
RIVERSIDE 0 14 14 6— 34
Scoring plays
ELLWOOD CITY — Codey Hunter, 9-yard run (Scott Lewis kick).
RIVERSIDE — Ray Crum, 5-yard run (Mike Bupp kick).
RIVERSIDE — Jared Desensi, 18-yard run (Bupp kick).
RIVERSIDE — Zach Snyder, 85-yard run (Bupp kick).
RIVERSIDE — Desensi, 38-yard run (Bupp kick).
RIVERSIDE — Tom Mansfield, 6-yard run (kick failed).
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