By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

PORT SULPHUR – Riverside extended its winning streak to three Friday night. This time, the Rebels wouldn’t take it down to the wire.

RA went on the road to down South Plaquemines, 41-19, in the District 9-2A opener for both teams.

“We played a really good second and fourth quarter, and a poor third,” said Riverside coach Mickey Roussel. “They made some big plays, and we answered. They came up on the run and Tate made some big plays with his arm … We settled down after the third and we were able to put it away.”

After the Rebels defeated Brusly in a shootout last week, 30-27 appeared that Rebels coach Mickey Roussel’s offense had caught up to its strong defensive and special teams play thus far this season after replacing nine 2010 starters, and this week’s output only reinforced that thinking.

RA (3-1) gained 325 yards of total offense and turned the ball over just once, while the Rebel defense forced six Hurricane turnovers.

Rebels’ quarterback Tate Scioneaux threw a career high three touchdown passes to go along with 147 yards, completing 9 of his 19 pass attempts.

Both of his tailbacks were duel threats. Nate Williams rushed for 88 yards on 11 carries and scored a touchdown while adding 26 yards on two receptions, scoring on one of those. Jonquial Sanders, likewise, rushed for 30 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries and caught five passes for another 89 yards and a score.

South Plaquemines’ Lorne Barthelemy accounted for 361 total yards (250 passing, 111 rushing) and three touchdowns. But Barthelemy threw four critical interceptions.

“He’s a good athlete, but I thought we did a pretty good job against him,” said Roussel. “He got us a few times, hurt us with his legs. But we forced him into some turnovers. We did enough to win.”

Grady Gieger, Lucas Martin, Scioneaux, Josh Ladner and Austin Millet each came up with interceptions.

The Rebels fell behind early but quickly made up for it. Barthelemy put SPHS (1-3) ahead 7-0 on a 40-yard touchdown run, but the Rebels scored the next three touchdowns before the half. Scioneaux dialed up Brandon Millet first for a 22 yard touchdown, then found Sanders for a 14-yarder early in the second quarter. Sanders scored his second touchdown of the night on a 13-yard run.

The Rebels looked primed to put things away in the second half when Kalen Jenkins scored from a yard out, giving RA a 20-point lead. But Barthelemy led his team on a rally, first connecting with Tanner White on a 46-yard score to make it 27-13, then by running it in himself for a 3-yard score. Riverside halted a two-point conversion attempt on each touchdown to hold the score at 27-19.

RA pulled away nonetheless. Scioneaux found Williams for a 20-yard touchdown with 10:04 left to play, making it 34-14. After a Geiger interception on SPHS’ ensuing drive, Riverside put it away via a Williams’ 9-yard touchdown run.