RESERVE — Riverside Academy (4-1) started district off right with a 41-14 win Friday against its old foe, the Newman Greenies (4-1.)

Newman entered the game undefeated, but any hopes of staying that way were crushed.

Newman was playing from behind after the game’s first two plays. Quarterback Miles Lapeyre lost 15 yards on Newman’s first play after a bad snap and threw an interception to Riverside’s Cardez Joseph.

The Rebels scored 27 points in the first half of the game with two touchdowns in just the first seven minutes.

RA wide receiver Jalen Banks scored a 60-yard rushing touchdown and an 80-yard touchdown from a long forward pass.

“I thought we played well in some areas and we didn’t play well in some areas,” Riverside football coach Bill Stubbs said. “I felt like there were some areas where we lost concentration. But that’s something we can get fixed real quick.”

Even pulling out a win, Stubbs thinks there is need for improvement.

“We need to work on keeping our intensity level up,” Stubbs said. “You get up on a team and you know you’ve got a pretty good shot at beating them. You’ve got to continue the quest to get better. At the end of the game we always have the guys as themselves, ‘did we get better?’ I think we did in some ways, but individually I think some of the guys know we didn’t play our best football game tonight.”

By Courtney Griggs