By JEFF BARROIS
Contributing Writer

NEW ORLEANS – Riverside survived a late surge by Carver and claimed a share of their first district title in twelve years as they held on for a 35-22 victory.

“In the end, a district championship feels real good. That’s our first goal, and now it’s on to other things,” said RA Coach Bill Stubbs after the victory.

“It feels great to know that we brought [a district title] back to Riverside” said quarterback Herb McGee. “We all had one goal in common and that was to win a district championship.”

The sophomore had two touchdowns on the evening including an electrifying 59-yard run on the first Rebel possession to push his team out to an early 6-0 lead. McGee scored through the air on the next Rebel possession, capping it off with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Joe Anderson.

Defensive tackle and sometimes fullback Richie George scored his first touchdown of the season from one yard out to make it a 20-0 Riverside lead.  The sophomore also came up with a big fourth down stop inside the Riverside 5 to save a score.

“It feels wonderful to be the first in 12 years to be district champs,” said George, “We’re going for it all. We’re going for the championship.”

But Carver would not go down without a fight. Junior Romalas Walker had an 85-yard kickoff return late in the first half to get the Rams on the board, and freshman quarterback Quinton Matthews had touchdown passes to Carlius Joseph and Jerome Smith to pull the Rams to within 5 late in the game.

But after Carver failed to recover an onside kick attempt, running back Kendall Martin put the game out of reach with a 67-yard run to give the Rebels a 35-22 lead.

“We had to come out firing hard and we got the mission accomplished,” said the sophomore, “We had to do what we were called to do and that was to win district.”

Martin had 161 yards on nine carries in the victory.

Riverside finishes the season with a 8-2 (3-1) record and will share the District 9-2A crown with Newman who the Rebels defeated last month.