by PAINESVILLE, Ohio – Despite an unorthodox training camp and unfavorable weather conditions, the Riverside Beavers used a second half flurry in a 30-0 shutout of the Willoughby South Rebels on Friday (August 28) night at Beaver Stadium.
The Beavers kept the Rebels off-balance all night, holding the Rebels to just six yards of total offense.
“The different style of offseason with the pandemic definitely played a part in this one,” said Riverside head coach Dave Bors. “It’s not an excuse but it showed tonight. We came out at halftime, made some adjustments and it was good to see for a building block going forward.”
Following an hour long weather delay, the Beavers scored first without even touching the ball. Willoughby South began with the ball in their own territory. With a steady rain falling, the Rebels had two bad snaps on their first drive, leading to points for Riverside. Facing fourth down, the snap sailed over Tommy Funk’s head for a Riverside safety. The Beavers gained a 2-0 lead in the first 90 seconds.
Riverside had a slow go of it in the first quarter as they came up empty on all three of their drives, despite starting in South’s end of the field. South forced two three and outs (including a fourth down play) and took advantage of a missed 28-yard field goal. The Riverside safety stood as the difference after one quarter, with the score 2-0.
After South went three and out on their first four drives, Riverside took advantage of great field position once again. Starting in South’s territory for the fourth straight drive, Dom Lulow found James Bruno on a 34-yard screen for a Riverside touchdown. The Beavers pushed the lead to 9-0 with 9:29 left in the second quarter.
South’s offense struggled to get the wheels moving behind sophomore QB Colin Quinlan and junior RB Ira Sampson. The Rebels broke their three and out streak on an 11-yard run by Sampson on their fifth drive, moving the chains for the first time in the first 12 minutes of the game. The momentum was halted by a bad snap, leading to a punt.
On the first play of Riverside’s fifth drive, Lulow was picked off by Jayden Piercy as Willoughby South took over in their best field position of the night. The Rebels could not take advantage as they punted again with a three and out.
The Beavers had numerous opportunities on a short field due to poor special teams plays in less than ideal conditions. But the Rebels fought back and gave the Beavers some fits at times.
Riverside used an eight play (seven runs) drive from South’s own 25 yard line to try and break the game open. The Rebels’ defense stopped Lulow on a fourth and goal from the two yard line. Willoughby South came up with two fourth down stops in the first half, but trailed 9-0 to the Beavers.
South gets a stop on fourth down. pic.twitter.com/VcIHKKJ0dD
— Tyler Stotsky (@tstotskySID) August 29, 2020
Bors said, “This senior-laden group knew I was frustrated at halftime but they knew what to do. They got the rust off and got things to click.”
After some halftime adjustments, the Beavers came out firing on the first drive of the second half. Riverside employed a no-huddle offense for a 13 play, 78 yard drive capped on a Lulow one yard TD run. Lulow made it 17-0 with a two-point conversion pass to Mason Stephens.
An 11 play drive for South stalled out before Riverside responded with a ten play, 65 yard scoring drive that spanned the final minute of the third quarter and three minutes of the fourth quarter. Lulow called his own number once again, scoring from 11 yards out with 8:37 left in the contest.
Here’s the touchdown video for Lulow. https://t.co/9Amr37CncU pic.twitter.com/RvbmArGfmx
— Tyler Stotsky (@tstotskySID) August 29, 2020
Stephens, who caught the two-point conversion pass in the third, intercepted Quinlan on the South’s next play.
South’s defense came up with a fourth and goal stop from the one yard line for Riverside as they looked to ice the game. Lulow was stopped inches from the goal line for the Rebels’ third fourth down stand of the contest, and second at the goal line.
Wyatt Wunderle put the icing on the cake with 3:06 left as he scored on a QB keeper from ten yards away. Riverside won the game 30-0 over the Rebels.
The Beavers ended with 266 yards of total offense, compared to just six yards for the Rebels.
Lulow accounted for 122 passing yards, 63 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. He made ten of 21 passes with one passing TD and one interception. On the ground, the senior tallied 63 yards on 16 carries with two rushing scores for Player of the Game honors.
Lulow spoke about the slow start, “It was a little bit of rust, our defense put us in good spots so we had the ball in the red zone and good field position. The first half was to get the jitters out and the second half rolled on.”
Cayman Locher ran for 44 yards on ten carries while Bruno caught five passes for 77 yards, including the 34-yard touchdown in the first half.
For the Rebels, Sampson totaled 37 rushing yards on 15 carries. As a team, South only managed three first downs on offense.
Riverside will host Kent Roosevelt next Friday (Sept. 4) at home while Willoughby South will play at Chardon.
Final Box Score: https://stats.digitalscout.com/football/boys/game/12645003
Player of the Game: Dom Lulow, QB: 185 total yards (122 passing, 63 rushing), 3 TD (2 rushing, 1 passing)
