Riverheads stomps Page

SHENANDOAH — The Riverheads Gladiators took care of business in their regular season finale, defeating Page County 41-14 to assure a trip back to the Region B playoffs next week.

By winning, the Gladiators improved to 7-3 overall and finished with a 4-1 record in the Shenandoah District.

Their opponent next week will be a familiar one — No. 1 ranked William Campbell.

“We’ve played them six of the last seven years,” said Riverheads coach Robert Casto.

The Gladiators put four touchdowns on the board before the Panthers’ offense could answer.

“We blocked and ran well,” Casto said. “We’re definitely better offensively than we were at the beginning of the season.”

The Gladiators’ potent ground game began chewing up large chunks of yardage immediately after the opening kickoff.

With a one-yard touchdown run, Montana Puffenbarger capped a 10-play, 65-yard drive in just four minutes.

Riverheads’ quarterback Cameron Brown abandoned the running game long enough to hook up with Lyndon Humphries on a 32-yard touchdown pass with 3:42 remaining in the period.

A minute later, after Montana Puffenbarger intercepted Page quarterback Dakota Wolf, Brown connected with Puffenbarger on a 63-yard touchdown pass with 2:47 left in the quarter.

The Gladiators put another long drive together before halftime, going 85 yards in 15 plays. Stansford Shiflett completed the drive with a three-yard touchdown as the Gladiators increased the lead to 28-0.

The Panthers finally put their own drive together before intermission, going 89 yards on 13 plays. On fourth and goal, T.A. Pendleton scored from the one with 46 seconds left in the half.

Page County took the second-half kickoff and marched the ball downfield again, this time moving from its own 33 yard line. Wolf scored from the eight, completing a 14-play drive. The extra point cut the Riverheads’ lead in half.

But the Red Pride defense cut off the Page attack for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, the Riverheads offense kept pounding out the yardage.

Riverheads will travel to Naruna next Friday to play William Campbell.