Riverdale rumbles to victory at Siegel

MURFREESBORO — New faces but with the same results.

Riverdale wasted little time christening Siegel’s new stadium last night. The Warriors opened their Class 5A title defense by scoring on six of the team’s first seven possessions to rout the Stars 50-3.

Riverdale’s Gaston Miller scored on the Warriors’ first play when he caught Scott Thomas’ lateral and raced 64 yards for the touchdown.

Riverdale scored three times on the first play of a possession.

“Last year we had a lot of quick scores,” Miller, a Vanderbilt commitment, said. “That’s a big part of our success. We like to get out and score early so other teams have to play catch up.”

Thomas hit wide receiver Antwone Smith for a 31-yard completion and Julius Worthington for an 80-yard strike for the team’s other single-play scoring drives.

Siegel (0-1, 0-1 in Region 4-5A), which played the past two seasons at MTSU’s Floyd Stadium, struggled to move the ball. The Warriors’ defense kept the Stars without a first down in the first half as quarterback Zeke Anderson was given little time to find receivers and running back Corven Parks struggled to gain yards.

Jordan Kiss relieved Anderson, who has been battling bruised ribs, in the second quarter.

Siegel’s first first down came with 4:05 left in the third quarter.

“They just play man and blitz a lot,” Siegel Coach David Watson said. “They outman you in the box, and they just had better athletes.”

Riverdale’s victory extended its win streak to 16 and is the program’s 64th consecutive regular-season region victory.

Thomas, who replaced his brother Dave Thomas at quarterback this season, completed 3-of-6 passes for 143 yards. Marques Locke, a move-in from Blackman, along with Trey Smith also saw time at quarterback.

“A lot of people were getting on (Scott),” Riverdale fullback Tamar Butler said. “They said he couldn’t complete passes. I told him (going into the game) just to keep his head up and he did a good job.”

Siegel scored in the waning moments of the game. Kicker Tyler Tipton hit a 34-yard field goal for the Stars’ points. It was the school’s first points against Riverdale (1-0, 1-0) in three games. The Warriors defeated the Stars 62-0 in 2004.

Riverdale blocked a Tipton 34-yard field-goal attempt on the Stars’ previous possession. The Stars’ final two drives came with several Riverdale starters in the game.

“I don’t think they wanted us to score,” Watson said.

Riverdale held Siegel to 78 total yards and just four first downs.

“Last year we had one of our best defenses,” Butler said. “A lot of people didn’t know how good our defense would be. But we wanted to show we were still good.”