Harrisburg loses to Rivercrest 40-14

By COSMO COSSEY

Sports Connection Team

Harrisburg (0-4, 0-1) fell behind 40-0 at halftime to Rivercrest (3-1, 1-0) on a rainy night at Jordans Stadium on their way to a 40-14 loss in the 3A-3 conference opener for both teams Friday in Harrisburg.

Rivercrest’s Cavonta Washington just gets the pass off as Harrisburg’s Corbin Barker applies pressure during game action this past Friday in Harrisburg. (Photo by Cosmo Cossey)

Rivercrest got the ball first and put together a 65 yard drive that resulted in a six yard touchdown run by Jayden Young to make it 6-0 Colts with 9:32 left. The two-point pass play fell incomplete.

The Hornets started their drive on their own 20-yard line after the ball went into the end zone for a touchback. Harrisburg used a good ground attack to move the ball to the Rivercrest 33-yard line only to turn the ball over on downs with 5:18 left in the quarter.

The Colts drove the ball down the field and scored on a Cavonta Washington 10 yard run to push their lead to 12-0 with 1:44 left. The two- point play again was no good.

Andrew England (24) of Harrisburg runs behind the blocking of David Woods (64), Luke Henley (70) and Trenton Fitzgerald (50) for a nice gain during 3A-3 conference action against Rivercrest. (Photo by Cosmo Cossey)

The Hornets started their next drive on their 23-yard line. The quarter ended during the Hornets’ possession.

Harrisburg punted the ball away on the first play of the second quarter and the Colts Young returned the ball 80 yards for a touchdown. The score pushed the Rivercrest lead to 18-0 with 11:42 left. The two-point conversion play was no good for the Colts.

Andrew England gave the Hornets good field position with a kick-off return to his own 47-yard line. However, the Colts defense came up with an interception by Keiran Morris who returned the ball to the Harrisburg 47-yard line with 10:31 left. The Colts drove the short field and Young carried the ball in from five yards out to push the Rivercrest lead to 24-0 with 7:01 left in the half. Young added the two-point conversion run making it 26-0.

Harrisburg had to punt the ball away on their next series with the Colts taking over at their own 30-yard line. The Colts moved the ball in Harrisburg territory before Washington hit Jakavion Williams with a quick pass that turned into a 26 yard touchdown pass to put the Colts up 32-0 with 2:16 left. Washington found Buddah Harris with the two-point pass making the score 34-0 Rivercrest. Jakavion Williams came up big for the Colts again with an interception he returned 45 yards for a touchdown to make it 40-0 Colts with 1:32 left. Hunter Ellis’ point after attempt was no good.

England set the Hornets up with good field with a kick return to the Colts’ 47-yard line. Jayvin Thompson carried the ball down to the Colts’ 15-yard line only to see Max Tracy’s pass intercepted by Siquori Bonner as the second quarter came to a close.

Harrisburg got the ball to start the second half and put together an 80 yard drive that saw a big run by England get the ball in Colt territory before Hayden Anderson scored on a one yard run to make it 40-6 with the turbo clock running. Tracy added the point-after to make it 40-7 with just over five minutes left. The Colts ensuing possession spanned the end of the third period and ended with a punt with 10:40 left in the fourth quarter as Harrisburg took over at their one 24-yard line. The Hornets moved the ball down to the Colts’ 10-yard line before fumbling the ball with Rivercrest recovering at their own seven-yard line with 6:38 left in the game.

The Colts were forced to punt with the ball being downed at the Rivercrest 32-yard line with 2:17 left. Harrisburg drove the short field with England scoring from nine yards out to make it 40-13 Colts with 25 second left. Tracy added the extra-point to set the final score at 40-14.

“First quarter we are down 12 but I thought we are playing well, missed a drive continuing pass that could have helped. We ran the ball well that opening drive, we score there it may cause it to be different game,” Harrisburg head coach Austin Jarrett said. “Then we are down 40 at the half and we are thinking what is going on. We were playing good but it felt like we were about an inch away about 20 times tonight. I didn’t feel like they were just beating us up, just some plays that hurt us. If we score right there before half and then we did score twice in the second half and it’s a two touchdown game,” Jarrett added. “We are improving each week, have to execute better and defensive has to make more stops,” Jarrett said.

Harrisburg rushed for 259 yards as England ran for 100 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Thompson had five carries for 91 yards, Anderson finished with 48 yards on 14 carries and touchdown with Remington Rapert adding 20 yards on two carries. Braden Brock had 10 tackles to lead the defense with Evan Henley and Anderson having seven tackles each.

“A conference win is a conference win and this one tonight counts as much as the next one will,” Rivercrest head coach Johnny Fleming said after the game. “We got of tonight’s game healthy and we’ll go get ready for next week. The team played well tonight, we won the turnover battle and our special teams played good tonight,” Fleming added. “We go Newport next week and they have a good team, it will be a tough game,” Fleming said.

Washington completed 10 of 12 passes for 119 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 77 yards on eight carries with a touchdown to lead the Colts’ offense. Joe Louis Ralph added four carries for 35 yards. Jakavion Williams caught four passes for 87 yards and a touchdown with Buddah Harris grabbing four balls for 25 yards. Jakavion Williams had an interception return for a touchdown and Young had a rushing touchdown and returned a punt for a touchdown.