SPENCERVILLE-It was a tale of two different halves at Memorial field on Friday night when the Bearcats hosted the Riverside Pirates. Spencerville led 10-3 at halftime before Riverside stormed back in the second half to pick up the 45-10 victory.
“Defensively I was pretty happy with the first half,” said Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig. “I think we had them at 50 rushing yards with two dynamic guys in the backfield and that’s nothing to drop our heads at and we came up with big plays when we needed to in the first half.”
In the opening quarter both offenses struggled to get going and finding success. Spencerville fumbled the ball on their opening quarter but were able to force a turnover on downs. The Bearcats were able to flip the field on the drive but it stalled out on a turnover on downs.
The offense started to pick up in the second quarter as Riverside was able to get into field goal range as a 37 yard field goal gave the visitors a 3-0. Spencerville was able to get the ball deep in Riverside territory before a 26 yard field goal by Carder Orr tied it at three.
Special teams played a factor late in the half as a botched snap gave the Bearcats first and goal from the five. A one yard run to beat the halftime buzzer gave them a 10-3 halftime lead.
The second half was a completely different story as it started on a 95 yard kickoff return by Stotler that tied it at 10. Riverside extended the lead on a fourth down play that resulted in a five yard run by Myles Platfoot that gave them a 17-10 advantage. Riverside took advantage of a botched snap on special teams and converted on a one yard run by Platfoot to extend the lead to 24-10.
“I think Stotler was a big part of our game plan and in the second half they started keeping it with Platfoot and we kind of started doing some mental mistakes and different formations from what we saw this week,” said Koenig of the second half adjustments. “It gave us some confusion and we didn’t make the plays that we needed to make.”
The Pirates were far from done in the game as they scored on three touchdown runs in the final quarter which resulted in a running clock for the final 2:20 of the game.
Spencerville drops to 2-1 on the season and will begin NWC play next Friday night when they visit Columbus Grove.
“It was kind of the challenge that I told them in the huddle after the game, which is whether or not we are going to let this loss define us,” concluded Koenig. “We need to come back on Monday and have a great day of practice and a great week of practice in preparation for Grove cause they are going to come at us too and it’s going to be a challenge and we need to take it head on.”
Riverside 0 3 21 21 – 45
Spencerville 0 10 0 0 – 10
Scoring recap
Second quarter
9:32 Riverside:37 yard field goal: 3-0 Riverside
2:36 SV: 26 yard field goal Carder Orr:3-3
0:00 SV:1 yard run Carder Orr:10-3 SV
Third quarter
11:45 Riverside:95 yard Kickoff return:10-10
4:30 Riverside:5 yard run Myles Platfoot:17-10 Riverside
2:53 Riverside:1 yard run Myles Platfoot:24-10
Fourth Quarter
10:22 Riverside:35 yard run by Stotler:31-10
7:30 Riverside:16 yard run by Platfoot:38-10
2:20 Riverside:19 yard run by Anderson:45-10
Total yards
Riverside:278
Spencerville:231
Turnovers
Riverside:4
Spencerville:6
Penalties
Riverside:4
Spencerville:7
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