Riverdale travels well

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In order to win 64 consecutive regular-season games, only minimal mistakes by Riverdale are tolerated.

As for as its opponent, the more the merrier.

The Warriors benefited from three first-half turnovers by host Worthington (Ohio) Kilbourne to win 26-7 last night.

“The turnovers hurt them, that’s no doubt,” Riverdale Coach Gary Rankin said. “It was a hard-fought game. They have a fine football team.”

Kilbourne’s first two turnovers had a common cause in Riverdale junior linebacker Marcus Locke.

After the Warriors’ opening possession stalled at their own 44, Kilbourne took over on downs and pieced together a nine play, 38-yard drive.

But on a third-and-8 from the Warriors’ 17, Kilbourne dropped back to pass and Riverdale blitzed.

Locke hit Wolves’ quarterback Jordan Gafford causing a fumble. It was recovered by Elijah Shamenda.

“We expected them to throw,” Rankin said. “We had the blitz on and it just got it going for us.”

Eight plays later, Gaston Miller scored from 5 yards out, giving Riverdale a 6-0 lead with 10:59 remaining in the second quarter.

Kilbourne then fumbled on its ensuing possession, and it was recovered by Locke. Riverdale went to the air as quarterback Scott Thomas connected with Phillip Stevenson from 17 yards out to put the Warriors ahead 12-0, capping a seven-play, 69-yard play drive.

Finally, Riverdale made it 19-0 with 4:56 left in the half on a 51-yard run by Miller.

“I think the Miller kid is as good a little running back we’ve seen,” Kilbourne Coach Jeff Gafford said.

“We have some bigger kids here in central Ohio, but as far as still being able to make cuts and then run over people, he’s as good as we’ve seen.”

Miller finished with 195 yards on 23 carries and three touchdown followed by Tamar Butler (six carries, 42 yards) and Thomas (four carries, 23 yards). In all, Riverdale ran for 284 yards on 44 carries for a 6.5 yards per rush average.

Kilbourne, which reached the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I state semifinals last season, could muster just one touchdown.

It came in the Wolves’ opening possession of the second half, a 3-yard run by Gafford — the coach’s son — with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter that cut the Riverdale lead to 19-7.

Once again Riverdale called on Miller as he iced the game with a 6-yard touchdown run with 3:49 to play.

The Warriors defense limited Kilbourne to 147 yards rushing on 34 plays.

“It’s hard getting ready for this type of option offense,” Rankin said. “We don’t see it much and it’s hard to simulate in practice. I think the speed of it took us a while to catch up to it.”

Riverdale improves to 2-0 while Kilbourne falls to 0-1. That extra game Riverdale played last week made the difference, Coach Gafford opined.

“We look like we were playing Game One and they looked like they were playing Game Two,” he Gafford said. “They were sharper, they had their timing and against that you have to get off to a good start. We didn’t bring our ‘A-game.’ ”