Good and Bad for Riverdale in First Scrimmage
By ROGER GARFIELD • August 1, 2008
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A good first step.
That seemed to describe Riverdale’s play Friday evening in its first scrimmage of the 2008 football preseason. The Warriors played host to defending Division II-AA state champ Montgomery Bell Academy, and the varsity portion of the contest finished in a 21-21 tie.
For third-year Riverdale coach Ron Aydelott, whose team fell 35-13 to Wilson Central in the second round of the 2007 playoffs, it was refreshing to see his players’ gold helmets flying around again on the grass at Tomahawk Stadium.
“I thought we played Riverdale-like, in areas,” Aydelott said. “I was very disappointed last year when we finished with Wilson Central that we didn’t come out and compete. I thought today we came out and competed, I thought they swarmed to the ball, and that’s Riverdale. That’s what Riverdale stands for.”
Led by junior quarterback Cody West, taking his first varsity snaps this season, the Warriors marched right down the field and scored. A 25-yard pass on third down from West to newcomer Trey Oliver — a senior transfer from La Vergne — set up a 4-yard touchdown run by West.
Riverdale connected again on its fourth possession of the day when Joey Lee — a lightning-quick senior running back who could do serious damage in the open field this season — took the ball 35 yards for a score.
The Warriors almost lost the ball a few plays earlier when West, on a rollout, gained close to 10 yards before fumbling. West coughed up the football again two possessions later, and although Riverdale recovered both times, the right-hander said afterwards that he hasn’t been tucking the football like he should.
“That’s a bad habit I need to get fixed,” West said. “Now.”
For every negative, though, there seemed to be a positive. West hid the ball well in the Warriors’ wing-T attack. He didn’t force any throws. And on the final possession of the day, he broke off a 50-yard run down the sidelines to set up a 1-yard touchdown run from Oliver.
“He is very athletic,” Aydelott said of West, whom he believes has the tools — physically and mentally — to be a good general of the wing-T. His one problem may be thinking too much.
“Sometimes paralysis by analysis can cause some problems,” Aydelott said. “But he has a tremendous desire to do right, he has leadership abilities and he has tremendous athleticism.”
Riverdale threw the ball more in early-down situations than it did last season under quarterback Trey Smith, a UT-Martin signee. The Warriors only connected on a handful of passes for more than a few yards, though, and West says he’ll have to be more on point than he was Friday for the aerial attack to show itself in the regular season.
“We’re practicing the throwing a lot, but with coach A, we’ve got to have a higher percentage than we had today for that to be an option,” West said.
Defensively, the Warriors lost gas as the scrimmage wore on. They held MBA scoreless for its first five possessions, and then they allowed MBA quarterbacks Spencer Wise and Luke Colbert to carve them up a bit.
MBA scored on its final three varsity possessions — twice on long touchdown passes and once on a long run from Colbert.
Aydelott wasn’t pleased with the secondary breakdowns but he did praise the defensive line — led by senior tackle Alex Smithson — for its consistency in stopping MBA’s run game.
“I thought our front was great,” Aydelott said. “We shut the run down, and that’s all you can ask. If they have to throw the ball to beat you, and you can’t stop the pass, that’s all you can ask.
“We’ve got to defend the pass (better), but if you can stop the run, you can win football games.”
They won 11 of them last season but fell short of the ultimate goal — a fifth state title. Whether that’s attainable this season remains to be seen. But that’s not the focus right now.
“Off the field, we’re all working hard,” West said. “We’ve just got to get the mental parts down.”
Said Aydelott: “We’ve got a long way to go, no question about it.”
— Roger Garfield, 615-278-5168
Scoreboard - November 25, 2011
| Teams | Score | |
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| Riverdale Maryville |
14 42 |
Final |
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