Written by - Tom Kreager

MURFREESBORO — Riverdale cranked up its offense, and the Warrior defense followed suit.

Second-ranked Riverdale beat seventh-ranked Blackman 38-14 in the second round of the TSSAA Class 6A playoffs on Friday night. The Warriors (12-0) host Oak Ridge (9-3) at 7 p.m. next Friday in the quarterfinals.

Oak Ridge defeated Cookeville 49-14. The Wildcats defeated Riverdale 28-21 in last year's quarterfinals.

Riverdale racked up 449 yards of total offense, while holding the Blaze to just 195 total yards. Mr. Football finalist I'Tavius Mathers, who entered the game with 2,210 rushing yards, was held to 48 yards on 17 carries. He left the game in the third quarter when he re-injured his sprained toe.

Mathers returned briefly. He finished the season with 2,258 yards on 246 carries with 27 touchdowns.

"I knew we had to come out and play our hardest to get this win," said Riverdale linebacker DeAntae Glover. "I knew our whole team would come out and play because we had to play well to win."

Glover had two sacks and a blocked punt in the game.

Riverdale held Blackman to 35 yards in the second half and two first downs.

Trailing 14-10 at halftime, Riverdale's offense methodically moved the ball downfield to open the second half, taking 10 plays to go 80 yards. Quarterback Dillon Woodruff capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. Davenport finished the game with 65 yards on 13 carries.

"Everybody was firing on all cylinders (Friday)," Woodruff said. "Our line was doing great, our backs were doing great.

"We've been down before and we knew we could come back. We just had to keep doing what we were doing."

Riverdale scored on four of its five offensive possessions in the second half.

"We couldn't get a stop," Blackman coach Philip Shadowens said. "They came down at the second half and drove down and scored. We didn't come back and score, which is going to happen when you play good football teams sometimes.

"And then they came back and scored again. It got to the fourth quarter and we had to come out and throw it."

Blackman quarterback Tyler Strickland was 6 of 15 passing for 119 yards with two second-half interceptions.

Woodruff was 6 of 8 passing for 124 yards. Woodruff's 11-yard TD run pushed the lead to 24-14 with 1:42 left in the third quarter.

Fullback Adam Davenport's 1-yard TD run and Keenan Jackson's 1-yard TD run ended the scoring for the Warriors. Davenport finished the game with 123 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.

"We knew we had it right where we wanted them," Davenport said. "We just had to come out and score. Our defense did amazing in the second half."

Blackman built a 14-10 lead halftime lead behind two Mathers short touchdown runs.

Mathers' second TD — a 4-yard run — gave the Warriors the lead with 1:12 left in the half. Mathers' 2-yard TD run on the first series of the game gave Blackman a 7-0 lead. But Riverdale countered with a Davenport 1-yard TD run. Josh Arman's 22-yard field goal pushed it to 10-7 before Mathers' final score.