Riverdale can use Friday’s Battle
of the ’Boro as preparation for the postseason.
Oakland will use it as preparation
for next season.
In the 36th meeting of the city’s
oldest football rivalry, the No. 4 Warriors (9-1, 7-0 in Region 4-5A)
defeated the Patriots 34-14 at Freedom Field.
It was Riverdale’s eighth straight
win over Oakland and 27th overall. It also extended the Warriors
region/district regular-season winning streak to 77 games.
Riverdale, the No. 1 seed in 4-5A,
will play host to Warren County Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in a first-round playoff
game. Oakland finishes 4-6 and 3-4 in the region, falling one spot shy of
a playoff berth.
“We wanted to set the tone for the
playoffs, though we were a little sloppy on offense,” said Riverdale
senior quarterback Scott Thomas, who rushed for a pair of scores and had a
career-high 225 rushing yards. “Our defense played real well and bailed
us out once again.”
Coming into Friday’s final night of
the regular season, Oakland, to make the playoffs, needed to beat
Riverdale and hope La Vergne lost to Wilson Central. Neither happened.
“We were one win away from the
postseason and that’s huge,” said Oakland coach Lebron Ferguson, whose
team had back-to-back 2-8 seasons prior to being in the heat of this
season’s playoff race. “This year we’ve won close games where in the
past we haven’t.
“We’ve really closed the gap and
made some strides.”
On a rain-soaked field, Riverdale
got the game’s first break. Senior halfback Marques Locke picked up a
Thomas fumble and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown to give Riverdale a
7-0 lead.
In the second quarter, junior
halfback Paul Boykin added a 1-yard touchdown run and Thomas scored from
49 yards out to make it 20-0.
Warrior junior Axel Watson picked up
an Oakland fumble on the second-half kickoff and ran it in from 20 yards
out and Thomas added a 38-yard TD run for a 34-0 advantage.
Oakland added two third-quarter
scores on a 33-yard pass from senior quarterback Tyler Burnett to senior
wide receiver Shane Blissard. Defensive back Rondricous Spivey added the
third fumble return for a touchdown when he picked up a Thomas drop and
raced 60 yards to cut the lead to the final margin.
— Steve Heath, 278-5169
