Riverdale takes down No.1 Farragut
East Tennessee’s best rode into Murfreesboro on Friday night.
They left town with a loss.
Ninth-ranked Riverdale upset top-ranked Knoxville Farragut 20-17 on homecoming night at Tomahawk Stadium.
Riverdale senior Grayson Powell, who missed a 22-yard field goal attempt in the first half, connected on a 27-yarder with 38.8 seconds remaining to complete the upset.
“I just wanted to keep my head down,” Powell said. “I’ve been having problems with that lately. I was working on that. And it paid off.
“This (win) feels great. Everyone has been doubting us.”
Farragut had a chance to score in the closing seconds. But Reese Browning’s pass attempt to receiver Lee Van Dyne fell incomplete just shy of the end zone.
Riverdale (5-1) upset then third-ranked Oakland 13-10 in overtime last week. Like last week against Oakland, Riverdale’s offensive line helped the Warriors move the ball on the Admirals (4-1).
Riverdale finished the game with 49 carries for 248 yards between seven different rushers. Riverdale finished with 19 first downs against Farragut.
“We knew coming in that they weren’t going to get the ball much, so we just tried to take advantage of our opportunities,” Browning said.
Those opportunities were spent through the air most of the night. Browning completed 17-of-23 passes for 171 yards against a Riverdale secondary that played soft against the Admirals receivers. The defensive backs played five to eight yards off the ball most of the night.
Farragut scored on its lone two possessions of the first half. Browning picked Riverdale’s secondary apart in the Admirals’ first drive.
After missing his first two pass attempts, Browning hit on his next five passes — the final one found David Allen for a 17-yard touchdown completion.
Farragut drove the ball to the Riverdale 7 on its second possession before having to settle for Christian Ponce’s 24-yard field goal.
Powell hit a 24-yard field goal with 13.9 seconds left in the half for the Warriors’ lone score.
But Riverdale’s defense came up with the lone turnover of the game on Farragut’s first possession of the second half when C.J. Overton picked off Browning’s pass to set up the first of two Cody West touchdowns.
“We started slow in the first half,” said Overton, who was the homecoming king. “We knew we were the better team. We just had to get it going.”
West’s 4-yard score tied the game 10-10.
West, who has been hobbled with a foot injury, gave Riverdale the lead with a 1-yard TD run on the Warriors’ next series.
“He’s being bothered by a small thing there,” Riverdale coach Ron Aydelott said. “It’s not going to get any worse. It should start get better.”
Farragut’s Montre Hudson answered West’s score with 6:59 left to set up Riverdale’s final drive.
“This gives our teams a lot of confidence,” Overton said. “It just shows that when we work hard, we can do anything.”
— Tom Kreager, 615-278-5168
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Subscribe to this comment's feedGREAT WIN AND GUTS
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Scoreboard - August 27, 2010
| Teams | Score | |
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Riverdale
La Vergne |
34 0 |
Final |
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