Riverside 20—Mandeville 17

MANDEVILLE — Riverside Academy’s quarterback woes continued Friday night.

Sophomore quarterback Jared Butler — a replacement himself for the injured Jordan Loving — sat out Friday’s jamboree with arm soreness. Filling in under center was senior wide receiver Herb McGee.

In the past McGee, an LSU and University of Arkansas recruit, has played quarterback mostly in wildcat formations.

Rebels head coach Bill Stubbs said he was impressed with McGee’s performance in Riverside’s 20-17 win over Mandeville.

“He is a senior, he is a four-year veteran, he is a captain —those are the things expected of him,” Stubbs said.

McGee completed 10 of 14 with 88 yards with one passing touchdown while adding 13 yards and a touchdown rushing.

His play included an 80-yard drive ending with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Tyler Gauthier with only 17 seconds remaining to put the Rebels up for the win.

Senior running back Brandon Sanders also scored a rushing touchdown and Gauthier as placekicker, scored two extra points.

On the defensive side of the ball, Stubbs said he was impressed by his team’s aggressive, tough play.

“The defense, as a unit , is one of the things I was really happy with,” Stubbs said. “They flew around and did a lot of gang tackling. They brought something with them when they arrived. Those are things that are sometimes very hard to teach. It looks like it is going to be part of their repertoire and what they want to bill themselves as.”

Despite the win, Stubbs said his team made enough mistakes for half of the season.

“We turned the ball over once,” Stubbs said. “We had two kicks, an extra point blocked and a punt blocked. We had several personal foul calls against us. We had some misalignments. We had some times we were out there with ten men on the field. There were a lot of mistakes we made.”

SCC 9—St. Thomas Aquinas 6

HAMMOND — Friday was a good night for the St. Charles Catholic Comets who playing balanced defense and offense in defeating the St. Thomas Aquinas Falcons 9-6 in the final preseason game.

SCC head coach Frank Monica said the jamboree versus St. Thomas Aquinas gave his team a chance to work out some kinks.

“We still are a work in progress like everybody else,” Monica said. “It is still early. We learned a lot. It was a good experience going out on the road and it was a good experience playing for a nice crowd at a nice venue. It was a good way to start the season. I am glad we got off on a positive note.”

St. Thomas Aquinas got out to an early start off a long pass that took the Falcons down to the one-yard line after which they punched in a short touchdown to take the lead 6-0. But that is all the Falcons would score for the entire game.

The Comets came back in the second half and scored off a long pass to speedy sophomore Tahj Smith for a 7-6 lead.

“(Smith) is a quality receiver, and we use him as a lot of different things,” Monica said. “We line him up in the backfield and we’ve used him as a slot guy. He is going to have to do that for us throughout the year.”

On the next series, middle linebacker Trenton Matus had a big sack pinning the Falcons deep in their own territory, leading to a snap through the back of the end zone and a safety to put the Comets up 9-6.

Monica said he was proud of his players for battling back.

“I was pleased we came back in the second half because we preached all year long about being a better second half team and closing the deal,” Monica said. “It was a good start going over there. When you go on the road, each team has to be a little bit more resilient, and I think we saw a little resilience in the second half.”

Monica also praised the play of quarterback Patrick Ratliff, who was 8 of 10 for 96 yards passing and tailback Justin Loupe, who rushed for 80 yards off of 18 carries.