By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

It took Riverside a little while to get rolling. But once the Rebels did, they made short work of White Castle.

Riverside broke open a 7-0 game in the second half to take down the Bulldogs, 27-6, in a non-district game at White Castle.

The Rebels struggled early on, says coach Mickey Roussel, but things improved markedly as the night went on.

“We missed a couple of opportunities to put touchdowns on the board in the first half,” said Roussel.

“We were a little confused on defense at times. We challenged the team at halftime, and corrected some things. And thankfully, we settled down and played pretty well.”

Thomas Crouch had a big day, carrying 11 times for 134 yards and a touchdown. He added three catches for 60 yards and another score.

Rebels quarterback Darnell Rachal completed 6-of-14 passes for 92 yards and a score.

Dylan Martin broke a scoreless tie in the first half when he ran for a 6-yard touchdown to make it 7-0.

But Riverside saw two potential scoring drives nixed by mistakes, including a lost fumble that wiped out a first-and-goal situation at the White Castle 1.

“We’re still growing up in spots,” said Roussel.

But the second half was much kinder to the Rebels. After the RA defense forced a White Castle punt, Rachal found Crouch through the air for a 30-yard touchdown that made it 14-0.

“I think we took control at that point,” Roussel said. “White Castle is an improved team, and their quarterback gave us some problems. But I felt like we contained him, particularly once we regained our focus.”

Rachal added a 5-yard touchdown run, and Crouch capped his big night off with a 50-yard touchdown score.

Roussel said that the biggest improvement from the jamboree may well have been the play of the Rebel offensive line. Its play was a point of emphasis throughout the week, he said.

“We executed much better on Friday,” Roussel said. “The offensive line didn’t play well in the jamboree, and we wanted that to obviously change. We saw a marked improvement in play.”