MURFREESBORO — Winning a region
championship is old hat to the Riverdale Warriors and to first-year Coach
Ron Aydelott.
The Warriors (8-1, 6-0) won the
Region 4-5A crown Friday, their 16th straight region/district
championship, and Aydelott got his sixth in the last seven years with a
30-10 victory over Lebanon (6-3, 4-2) at Tomahawk Stadium.
During a long tenure at Hillsboro,
Aydelott won region titles — and one state championship — from 2000-03
and in 2005.
Along with clinching the top seed for
the upcoming playoffs, Riverdale won its 76th straight region/district
regular-season game, 22nd straight home game and 11th straight over
Lebanon.
“To get one in my first year with
these kids has been special,” said Aydelott, whose team has won seven
straight games since an August loss to Division II Chattanooga McCallie.
Trailing 3-0 with just more than five
minutes remaining until halftime, the fifth-ranked Warriors (8-1, 6-0 in
Region 4-5A) scored the next 23 points, the last six on a 37-yard fumble
return for a touchdown by junior Trent Gander.
Taking advantage of a bad snap over
the head of Riverdale punter Scott Thomas, Lebanon took over on the
Warrior 15. Hurt by a holding and illegal procedure penalty, the Blue
Devils settled for a Price Bishop 42-yard field goal to take the early
lead.
The Warriors tied it with 5:17
remaining until halftime on Jasper Driskill’s 21-yard field goal and
took the lead when junior halfback Jeremy McClain scored on a 5-yard run
with 1:39 left until the break.
On Riverdale’s first series of the
second half, McClain finished off a drive with an 11-yard touchdown run.
Lebanon cut it to 23-10 with 5:18
left on a fourth-down 6-yard pass from Daley Sallis to Matthew Maynard.
The Warriors wrapped up scoring on
senior halfback Marques Locke’s 8-yard run.
“I was proud of our guys,”
Lebanon Coach Bobby Brown said.
“I thought we battled them for 48
minutes. They’re a great football team. The thing I was looking for from
our kids was they never quit.”
