BRYAN MULLEN - Staff Writer Tennessean

CPA proves no match for Riverdale's power For David Pack, it was a David and Goliath matchup.

But unfortunately for his Christ Presbyterian Academy team, Goliath felt no pain.

Riverdale defeated host CPA 55-3 last night in the Lions’ Den, capitalizing on early CPA mistakes and turning them into quick points.

It was a highly anticipated game considering the rarity of such a matchup; Riverdale (1-0) advanced to the state title game last season in Class 5A, the state’s largest Division I classification, while CPA (0-2) won the state title in Class A, the state’s smallest Division I classification.

It was the first time the teams had ever faced each other in the regular season.

“We took a pretty good beating by a pretty good team,” CPA Coach David Pack said. “They have a tremendous football team, and the purpose of this game was to see what good is. We probably thought we were pretty good, but we know there’s someone out there who’s bigger, stronger and faster. It didn’t kill us, so that will make us stronger.”

Both Pack and Riverdale Coach Gary Rankin exchanged pleasantries before and after the game, and expressed their admiration for each other’s teams.

“We’ll line up and play people with class any day,” Rankin said.

As for the game, it was clear CPA was outmanned. The Lions struggled early, dictated by their first three offensive plays. Riverdale intercepted CPA quarterback Travis Sikes on the game’s opening play, and on the Lions’ next possession, Riverdale recovered a fumble. So with two turnovers on their first two plays, and with the Lions trailing 7-0, things were appearing to get out of hand. That is, until CPA’s next possession. The Lions strung together an impressive 20-play drive spanning the first and second quarters and took 10:32 off the clock before John Price nailed a 35-yard field goal to cut the Warriors lead to 7-3. CPA quarterback Josh Pollock, who traded time under center with Sikes, was 6-of-6 for 63 yards, including two nice hook-ups to Sikes for 41 yards.

But the four-point deficit would be as close as the Lions would get.

Riverdale recorded touchdowns on its next three possessions, sparked by a 28-yard touchdown run by Gaston Miller. Riverdale quarterback Dave Thomas would toss two touchdown passes before the first half concluded, one to Rahmel Oliver for 19 yards, and another to Chris Perkins for a 4 yards.

“Their depth just isn’t as great as ours because of the school’s size, so we had an advantage right there,” said Miller, who carried the ball seven times for 100 yards and two touchdowns.

The game was the first part of a two-year contract. CPA will travel to Riverdale for next year’s game.