Riverdale Warriors Football

BY CORBY A. YARBROUGH • DNJ CORRESPONDENT • August 28, 2010

Big plays and big fouls dominated the night at Riverdale Friday.

Touchdown runs of 44 and 73 went the Warriors' way, and 111 yards worth of yellow flags went against the visiting Hendersonville Commandos as Riverdale moved to 2-0 with a 22-14 victory.

Adam Davenport rushed 20 times for 134 yards, scoring twice on runs of 1 and 73, while quarterback Dillon Woodruff added 110 total yards, including a 44-yard score for the Warriors.

Riverdale's defense, which stifled Antioch's attempts at a ground game in last week's 39-6 victory, continued the trend by limiting the Commandos' wing-T attack to 56 yards in the first half — 36 on the ground, 20 through the air on 1-of-5 passing. Hendersonville (0-1) collected nearly as many penalty yards (45) as it did total offense through the first 24 minutes.

The Warriors were not able to benefit from those 45 yards of penalties, however, until late in the first half.

In a matter of seven plays there was a sack, blocked punt, an interception and a one-play scoring drive.

Commando senior Whit Gray sacked Warrior quarterback Dillon Woodruff and classmate Taylor Bozeman followed two plays later by blocking Woodruff's punt attempt at midfield. Hendersonville could not capitalize, as quarterback Elijah Howell was intercepted by Scotty Boykin at the Riverdale 43. Woodruff bounced back from the sack and blocked punt in one play by dashing down the right sideline for a 44-yard score.

"You've got to shake off the losses and forget about it and look forward to the next series," Woodruff said of the sequence of events. "The touchdown got everybody going toward the right mindset to win."

After forcing a three-and-out on Hendersonville's first drive of the second half, Riverdale's Marcelous Odom clicked off a 38-yard run on the first play, a third personal foul penalty two plays later placed the Warriors at the Commando 25 and Davenport gained 21 of the 24, including a 1-yard plunge to push the lead to 14-0.

"We knew they were going to be physical and that touchdown was a big play," Davenport said. "It was two teams smashing on each other and trying to get the other one to wear down and break off the big play."

The Commandos, making their first visit to Tomahawk Stadium, did collect 181 yards in the second half — 57 coming on a lateral-scoring touchdown from Howell — but six personal fouls for the game certainly did not help matters.

"Mental mistakes; we beat ourselves," Gray said of his team's penalty problem. "We lost control of our minds and we wouldn't do that in practice, so I don't know why we did it here."

Riverdale answered Howell's score immediately as Davenport busted off a 73-yard touchdown run up the middle and added the 2-point conversion. Hendersonville added a late score on a 10-play, 71-yard drive, capped by Chris Moore's 1-yard run.

BY ADAM SPARKS  August 21, 2010 

Adam Davenport was so eager to start Riverdale's season, he left one shoe behind.

Davenport's 71-yard kick return on one socked foot in the second quarter sealed Antioch's fate early in a 39-6 win Friday night.

"My shoe was a little loose, and it just fell off. But I wasn't about to stop or slow down," said Davenport, who scored three TDs on the night.

"I still just ran hard. We worked a lot to get to the season, and I was ready to go."

Following Antioch's second straight safety of the night, Davenport, a junior, fielded the Bears' free kick, planted his left foot at the 29-yard line and took off with his cleat still stuck in the grass. Even with only one shoe, Davenport split two defenders and broke two more tackles en route to a breakaway score.

The Warriors (1-0) never looked back.

Riverdale's Wing-T offense amassed 499 rushing yards. Davenport had 80 rushing yards (151 total yards) and three scores. Junior Marcelous Odom added 67 yards. His brother, freshman Mariko Odom, put up 109 yards on 11 carries in his high school debut.

"He's just a ninth grader, and that's just how young we are in certain spots," Riverdale coach Ron Aydelott said.

Riverdale took control at the expense of Antioch's miscues. The Bears botched punts near their end zone on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter. Both deep snaps skidded on the turf. One went between the Antioch (0-1) punter's legs and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. On the next possession, the punt snap was fielded off the turf by the punter, but he was buried by Riverdale senior Phillip Woods for another two-pointer.

"I still thought we were sort of uninspired," Aydelott said. "We returned a safety kick for a touchdown, and they give us two safeties. Those aren't usually gift-wrapped for you like that. Those were breakdowns on their part, and I don't think we really took it to them."

In between the two safeties, Davenport capped a seven-play, 59-yard drive with an 18-yard scoring scamper. Josh Arman added the PAT kick. Riverdale led 18-0 at halftime, and Davenport added an 8-yard TD run in the third quarter.

During a span from the mid-first quarter to late in the third, Riverdale scored 25 unanswered points while Antioch notched just two first downs in a span of 31 plays.

Antioch finally ended the shutout with Demarco Moore's 1-yard quarterback sneak for a TD in the third.

But Riverdale answered with Ricardo Terry's 3-yard TD run to cap a 61-yard drive. Then after an Antioch turnover, Riverdale junior Keenan Jackson broke loose for a 50-yard TD run on the next play to go ahead 39-6.

Riverdale took a little while to get going. The Warriors were stopped twice on downs inside Antioch's 10-yard line on their first couple of drives of the game.

Riverdale drove to the 8, but got bogged down on a fourth-and-3 play. After an Antioch punt, Riverdale marched to the Bears' 6-yard line, but sophomore quarterback Dillon Woodruff's fourth-and-goal pass fell incomplete.

But where Riverdale failed to finish early on, Antioch never got started. The Bears were held to 25 rushing yards on 26 carries and fumbled eight times on the night.