Riverheads gets back on track

GREENVILLE — The Riverheads Gladiators erupted for 419 yards and capitalized on a sluggish Nelson first-half effort en route to a 49-27 non-district win over the Governors on Friday night.
Cory Sandridge scored three times and Demetrius Younger added two touchdowns for the Gladiators (1-1) as the hosts bounced back from a loss last week to Stuarts Draft.
“I was really pleased with the way we played after last week,” said Gladiator coach Robert Casto.  “We were a little bit hungrier.  We discussed a few things over the course of the week and we got the kids motivated and moving in the right direction.”
That direction was toward the end zone as Riverheads dominated the first half of play.
The Gladiators opened the game with a score in the first minute of play as Sandridge scampered 48 yards down the sideline for the score.  Dustin Skillman hit the first of seven extra points with just 1:03 gone in the game.
After holding the Governors to negative six yards on the visitor’s first series, Riverheads wasted little time in setting the tone of the first half.  A seven-play, 62-yard drive was finished off by a 9-yard rip by Younger and the first quarter was not yet half completed.
“We really controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball tonight,” Casto said.  “[Nelson] was bigger than we were but we were able to hold the line.”
Nelson did pick up a first down on its second possession, but a holding penalty and a fumble killed the drive.  An alert Sean Flynn fell on the loose ball for the Gladiators.
Riverheads maintained the momentum and scored with just eight ticks gone in the second quarter.  Sandridge ran in from the 5 for his second touchdown of the night.  Skillman drilled the PAT for a 21-0 Gladiator advantage.
The Governors did post a score before the half as quarterback Mark Wells moved the offense 82 yards in nine plays.  His 9-yard option play put Nelson on the board.
But Riverheads added a score before the half and the rout was on.  Sandridge picked up his third touchdown before intermission with a 10-yard sweep.  The senior tailback had 104 yards rushing in the first half.
Nelson played with some pride in the second half matching the Gladiators’ three scores.
The visitors opened the half with a 62-yard kickoff return by Quincy Murphy to the Gladiator 1-yard line.  Wells ran the final yard for the score.  Wells then completed an 8-yard pass to Jordan Wooten for the two-point conversion.
But it was too little, too late for Nelson as Riverheads added scores of 2 yards by Younger, 5 from Brandon Campbell and a 1-yard plunge by Montana Puffenbarger.
Nelson got two touchdown passes from Wells in the second half.  Tray Barnett caught one for 21 yards and Aaron Kidd hit the end zone on a 25-yard strike for the final tally.
“We’ve got some athletes on this team,” Nelson coach Tim Crawford said.  “I thought in the second half we did what we do well on offense.  But I thought we would be able to run the ball better.”
Nelson finished with 166 yard on the ground and 101 from the air.
The Governors went to a spread offense in the second half and the Gladiators had trouble stopping them.
“I asked my assistant coaches ‘which one of you wants to kick me’ for not going to the spread sooner,” Crawford said.  “But we had a hard time with [Riverheads’] wing-T.  They must have had 400 yards.”
The win was marked the 100th victory Casto has had at the helm of the Gladiators.