Leesburg, Va. — For many teams, winning their Homecoming game is a highlight of their season. For the Riverside High School football team, it was a commanding win at FACT Field over Dominion. Using their ground game that ran for 225 yards, the final score ended 38-0 in the Rams favor on September 13 in Leesburg.
A combination of junior running back Amari Barron—who rushed for 82 yards and two touchdowns—senior running back Ed Abbot—four rushes for 33 yards and a touchdown—and senior quarterback Robert Evelyn—61 yards and a touchdown—gave the Titans defense more than they could handle.
“We wanted to focus more on the run, because last week we threw the ball a lot,” Riverside head coach Ernie Porter said. “We wanted to balance it out and focus more on the run.”
A great offensive performance by the Rams was helped out by an even better defensive performance. Riverside forced two fumbles and senior Pearson Leinbach, junior Eric Harris, and sophomores Ethan Johnson, Axel Quintana, and Noah Pickard each collected interceptions.
“We talk about turnovers all the time,” Porter said. “We got to get those turnovers, give the offense momentum. So it was huge.”
Dominion started the game with the ball on their own 20-yard line. A 3rd-and-15 step up the Titans in a must-pass situation. Riverside senior defensive lineman Lebron Onunaku got close enough to Dominion senior quarterback David Reyes and tipped the ball up into the air. The ball fell into Leinbach’s hands to set up Riverside on the 4 yard line.
The Rams didn’t take much time to capitalize on the turnover as Barron got the four yards needed on back-to-back 2-yard rushes. Kicker Owen Saraceno put the PAT through the uprights to give Riverside a 7-point lead less than two minutes into the game.
On the next drive, Dominion moved down the field to their own 37 yard line. Reyes rolled right with pressure screaming down on him. His downfield throw bounced off of the receivers’ hands and into the arms of Harris for Riverside.
Riverside only ran two plays before a deep shot from Evelyn to senior wide receiver Grant MacBean was underthrown and Dominion junior defensive back Jeremiah Jackson came down with the interception.
Dominion was not on offense for long, however, as on the next play, a fumbled handoff was recovered by Riverside senior linebacker Garrett Lione on the Titans’ 21 yard line.
A 3rd-and-17 on the 28 yard line had Riverside go all out for the touchdown. The play worked out as Evelyn threw one up for MacBean in the back of the endzone for the Rams only passing touchdown of the game. A good PAT by Saraceno gave Riverside a 14-0 lead with under four minutes left in the first quarter.
With under a minute remaining in the first quarter, Dominion lined up for a punt on their own 39 yard line. Barron got a hand on the ball that bounced on the ground before junior lineman Dominic Radvanyi fell on the ball. Abbott capped off the drive with a 9-yard rushing touchdown, and Saraceno PAT put the Rams up 21-0 to end the first quarter.
“I think as a team, we did great today,” Barron said. “Obviously, we have some stuff we need to tweak, but besides that I think I and my team had a solid day today.”
The Rams opened up the second half with a 8-play, 67-yard scoring drive, capped off by a 3-yard quarterback run by Evelyn. A 31-0 lead about four minutes into the third quarter was a tall task for Dominion to overcome.
Another interception and another Barron rushing touchdown put the game completely on ice as the Rams shut out the Titans to celebrate their Homecoming, 38-0.
Riverside (0-0, 2-1) travels down to South Riding next Friday, September 20 to play Freedom. Dominion (0-0, 0-2) stays on the road against Loudoun County on the same date.
“Every opponent we look forward to playing,” Porter said. “We can’t sleep on anybody, because any given week anyone can beat anyone.”