08/24/2024
TAYLOR — The times change. The players change. Even the game changes.
But as years pass and football evolves, there's one thing that always seems certain in the Lackawanna Football Conference. When you open a season against Dunmore, you know you'll figure out quickly how physical a team you can be.
Friday night, Riverside set a hard-hitting tone for the program, one game into what it hopes can be a memorable season.
The No. 5 Vikings defense proved up to the task against the No. 8 Bucks' vaunted running game, and a pair of stops deep in their own territory in the fourth quarter helped two J.J. Rogers touchdown runs stand as the difference in a 16-3 win at Taylor Veterans Memorial Stadium.
"We know from all the years prior to this that Dunmore has a culture. They're a physical football team that wants to run the ball, and they're good at it," Vikings linebacker Richie Kostoff said. "We knew we had to show up, match their physicality. And, we did that."
Did they ever. Riverside piled up nine tackles for loss, and Kostoff set the tone with a nine-tackle performance. Junior defensive lineman Tavian Branch also had two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
Not to suggest Riverside didn't do it part offensively, too.
On their opening possession of the season, the Vikings worked around a holding call and still stormed 44 yards in five plays, with Rogers taking a sweep to the right around the edge and into the end zone with a daring dive toward the pylon. Riverside missed the extra point to take a 6-0 edge.
But Dunmore found its footing, thanks in no small part to the efforts of sophomore linebacker Xavier Burke.
Both of Riverside's following two drives were stalled out by tackles for loss. Sophomore Brayden Shigo and senior Izaiah Parker had sacks to thwart the first drive, sophomore Logan Miller cost the Vikings nine yards on second-and-10 to stall the second one, and on those series, Burke picked up the first two of his team-best 14 tackles.
But Dunmore's offense just never found its footing. A first-play fumble recovered by Riverside sophomore Jared Jackson took one opportunity away, and Kostoff's tackle in the backfield on third down ended another before Rogers finished off Riverside's final drive of the first half.
Starting at their own 45 with 7:07 before half, Riverside began a methodical march toward the end zone. Quarterback Chase Taddonio started the drive with a 17-yard run, and on a key third-and-10 play later in the drive, he found Kostoff for 23 yards to the Bucks 14.
From there, Rogers scored on another misdirection run, this one needing to make just one defender miss thanks to dominant work up front from juniors Tavian Branch and Graydon Dupree and the Vikings offensive line.
"It's all thanks to the line," Rogers said. "That was a real big score. It was a big boost going into halftime."
Meanwhile, the young Bucks made ventured three times inside the Riverside 25, never to find the end zone.
In fact, outside of senior Eric Reesey's 30-yard field goal on their second possession in the first quarter, the Bucks were held without a point.
With Riverside holding a 13-point edge after Santino D'Amico drilled a 34-yard field goal with 1:13 left in the third quarter, the Bucks answered with arguably its best drive of the game. Burke ripped off runs of 8, 9 and 12 yards while also hauling in a 14-yard pass from quarterback Jack McNeff that helped set the Bucks up with a first-and-goal from the Vikings' 4.
But, on second down, Riverside linebacker Zack Hauswirth jarred the ball loose on a rushing play between the tackles, and Dupree recovered to end the threat.
"We were super resilient," Kostoff said. "They were moving the football there, and props to them. But we really showed up when it mattered most."
Dunmore had one last chance after its defense forced a three-and-out, but Dupree made another big stop, stuffing the Bucks for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and 3 from Riverside's 23 to complete a dominant defensive effort.
"This was a great confidence booster," Rogers said. "After this one, I think we'll be good going into the rest of the season. Big win for us, and we're confident."
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TAYLOR — The times change. The players change. Even the game changes.
