By: TERRELL ROBINSON JR.

After sputtering through a first half plagued by missed opportunities, Riverside Academy found a rhythm in the second half of Friday night’s game against Lusher, which saw the Rebels defeat their hosts by a final score of 43-21. Darnell Rashal led the way for the visitors, engineering 4 scoring drives in the fourth quarter.

Up by only two points at halftime and receiving to start the third quarter, the Rebels went on an eight play scoring drive, capped off with a one yard rushing touchdown, the first of four touchdowns scored by Riverside in the final twenty-four minutes.

“We knew, after that first half, we just needed to come out and play as a team. To remain focused”, said Rachal, who rushed nine times for 114 yards and 2 scores. He also completed eight passes for 142 yards and another pair of touchdowns.

Following their first drive of the second half, the Rebel defense stopped Lusher in the redzone on a fourth-and-one. They then gobbled up four minutes of the clock en route to another touchdown when, two miuntes into the final quarter, Thomas Crouch (18 carries for 86 yards, 4 catches for 88 yards) broke the plane on a one yard run, his second of three touchdowns on the evening.

Riverside struck twice more in the fourth; first, Rashal hit Austin Vicknair for an eighteen yard scoring reception, then came right back to find Crouch in the endzone on a 42 yard throw. When The Lion’s Michael Shargois returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a Lusher score, it was too late for the home team to pose a serious threat.

Though obviously pleased with the victory, Rebels head coach Mickey Roussel saw room for improvement:

“Right from the beginning we were listless; we were unfocused”, said Roussel. “This is week nine… it’s not a time to start picking and choosing when we want to play well and when we want to play bad. I’m very concerned, because this was a poor effort.”

Effort from both offenses seemed missing from the first two quarters of play. After trading ounches through the game’s opening minutes, it was Lusher who scored first when Michael Evans threw a four yard, fourth-and-three touchdown pass to Andre Lagarde with 15 seconds left in the opening quarter. Riverside answered right back when Rashal ran 56 yards, breaking the Lions’ goal line as the first quarter clock struck triple zero. After benefiting from a 15 yard Lusher facemask penalty, Crouch ran around, over and through the Lion’s defense on a 24 yard touchdown scamper, then converted a two-point conversion to bring the halftime score to 15-13.