Draft rolls through Pride

GREENVILLE — The cross-county clash between Stuarts Draft and Riverheads turned out to be a one-sided affair on Friday evening.

The Cougars used a balanced running attack of D.J. Hines and Coy Wimer to push the ball down field, while the defense and special teams brought their A-game in the 27-10 win over the Gladiators 27-10.

“Our kids came to play tonight,” said Draft coach Rod Bowers. “I couldn’t be prouder of our guys tonight. We did a lot of things right on both sides of the ball, and that’s credit to the hard work these guys have put in.”

Riverheads struck early when Daniel Weekley took the opening kickoff all the way back to the Draft 17-yard line. The drive was stuffed by the Cougars’ defense, but a 32-yard field goal by Dustin Skillman gave the Red Pride a 3-0 lead.

Draft went four-and-out on its first possession, but on its second they pushed the ball down the field and finished the drive off on a four-yard TD run by Hines.

The defense played a key role in stopping the Gladiators offense all night. Riverheads’ QB Lance Diehl didn’t know what hit him when Michael Hicklin came off the end and sacked him from behind, forcing a fumble. The sack seemed to throw the Gladiators off of their game for the rest of the night.

“I was just looking to get to the quarterback,” Hicklin said. “I didn’t even realize he had fumbled the ball. I was just so excited.”

After stopping the Gladiators’ offense, the Cougars’ special teams took the field for the punt return.

Tyler Brydge took the punt to the house, dodging defenders on his way to the end zone. Jeff Wilson added the extra point to give the Cougars the 14-3 lead going into halftime.

“I thought our defense and special teams really played good games,” Bowers said. “We work on special teams a lot in practice and it really paid off tonight.”

In the second half the Cougars continued to give the ball off to Wimer and Hines and pushed down field for two more scores, both on QB keepers by Darius Woodson from 10 and 21 yards out.

The Gladiators put up a touchdown on the final play of the game on a one-yard TD run by Cory Sandridge.

Riverheads coach Robert Casto says a lot of work needs to be done.

“We have to work on everything. I thought our defense didn’t do half bad, but the offense just didn’t move the ball,” he said.

Riverheads (0-1, 0-0 Shenandoah) will be on the road next week in another non-district game against Nelson County.

Stuarts Draft (1-0, 0-0 Southern Valley) will play host to district rival Robert E. Lee next Friday in both teams first district game of the season.