Friday, May 18, 2012

Warriors punish Oak Ridge

Davenport vs Oak RidgeWritten by Tom Kreager

MURFREESBORO — Riverdale showed its heart Friday night.

It may need a bigger dose of it next week.

Second-ranked Riverdale beat Oak Ridge 35-10 at Tomahawk Stadium in the Class 6A state quarterfinals. But in the process they may have lost quarterback Dillon Woodruff.

Woodruff, a two-year starter, injured his right knee initially in the first half. He later re-injured it midway through the fouth quarter on a Mariko Odom 3-yard loss.

"I don't know," Riverdale coach Ron Aydelott said of the injury. "It doesn't appear good now. But we'll have to wait and see. They'll probably do an MRI and we'll find out."

Riverdale (13-0) will play at top-ranked Maryville (13-0) next Friday in the Class 6A semifinals. Maryville defeated Riverdale 42-30 in the 2009 Class 6A semifinals in their only meeting.

Riverdale held Oak Ridge (9-4) to 121 total yards, including just 51 yards in the second half. Oak Ridge quarterback Bradley Zulliger, the Wildcats' career passing leader, finished 9 of 25 passing for 70 yards, but had four interceptions.

"Coming into this game we really had a big chip on our shoulders," said Riverdale linebacker Scottie Boykin, who had a first-half interception. "We had to go hard."

Riverdale finished with 294 total yards, including 229 rushing yards.

Riverdale played inspired football in the first half — zooming to a quick 21-0 lead. The Warriors played with a passion, wanting to show their heart after Zulliger questioned Riverdale's heart after last year's 28-21 win over Riverdale in the quarterfinals.

"We came out on a high because of what their quarterback said last year," Boykin said. "Also, we brought out the black jerseys."

Riverdale wore its black jerseys and black pants for the second time in three weeks. The Warriors first wore them against Oakland in Week 10.

Leading 21-10 at halftime, Riverdale went 50 yards on six plays, making it 28-10 on Adam Davenport's 2-yard touchdown with 11:21 left.

Odom picked off a Zulliger pass five plays later and returned it to the Oak Ridge 39 to set up the last score.

Woodruff was injured seven plays later, but Davenport scored on the next play on a 15-yard TD run.

"The coaches called my number," said Davenport, who had a game-high 78 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns. "I just do what I needed to do."

Riverdale scored touchdowns on its first three series, taking advantage of multiple short fields.

Davenport scored on a 4-yard TD run one play after his 9-yard pass reception from Woodruff kept the drive alive on third-and-five.

Linebacker Rodney Burns' interception on the Oak Ridge 34-yard line set up the Warriors' second TD. Riverdale needed just six plays before Woodruff muscled into the end zone on a 2-yard run with 2:26 left in the first quarter.

Zulliger was picked off by Boykin, who returned it 35 yards to the Oak Ridge 1. Marcelous Odom scored on the next play to extend it to 21-0 with 11:44 left in the half.

"I tried to dive into the end zone," Boykin said. "But they grabbed my arm."

Oak Ridge's Matt Hall returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards to the Riverdale 17. Rian Hall scored on a 5-yard TD run. Brett Beeler's 32-yard field goal with 27 seconds left in the first half cut it to 21-10.

Scoreboard - November 25, 2011

Teams Score

Riverdale
Maryville
14
42
Final

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