| Riverdale 14, Oakland 7 in another heartstopper |
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Posted: Friday, November 20, 2009 9:53 pm
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Tough defense forced a surprising amount of passing in the Riverdale-Oakland showdown Friday, and even passing was difficult. Pat Smith photo
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Two tough guys in the same neighborhood eventually learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Friday night Riverdale and Oakland largely stopped the other team’s powerful running game in the quarter-finals of the TSSAA playoffs at Tomahawk Stadium, forcing the game to be decided by passing prowess.
Pulling off one more clutch pass play than the Patriots, the Warriors claimed an exciting, hard-hitting 14-7 victory to advance to the semi-finals, one step from the BlueCross Bowl.
The Warriors, 11-2, will travel to Maryville next Friday for a 7 p.m. Eastern time kickoff. Maryville, 12-1, hammered Farragut, 35-14.
Defending state champion Oakland finishes the season 10-3 with two of its losses nail-bitters to Riverdale that won the regular season contest 13-10 in overtime on a fourth-down touchdown.
With tenacious defenses shutting down running offenses, the quarterbacks of both teams were forced to put the ball in the air.
Riverdale’s Cody West hit two key long pass completions to set up touchdowns, the second coming in the third quarter for what proved the winner.
Oakland’s Christian Adams played superbly despite relentless Riverdale pressure, completing his first seven passes of the game, but saw two late drives stall out.
Still, Adams staged a daring drive that put Oakland in a position to tie the game inside the Riverdale 10 in the last minute of play but his final pass was tipped and intercepted by Warrior Marcelleous Odum to preserve the win for the home team.
Odum’s grab represented the only turnover of the game.
Starting inside his own 20, Adams had driven the Patriots down the field, hitting Xaiver Norman for 12 on a key third-and-seven, finding Tee Mayberry open for a 32-yard pass pickup and then scrambling away from three tackles on a 13-yard pickup to set up the final series.
West performed his heroics in the third quarter, leading the winning touchdown drive after being knocked out of competition for a couple of plays by the hard-ribbed Oakland defense.
Returning to the field West ran for one first down and passed for another before standing in the pocket under heavy pressure hitting Waltz Goins for a 46-yard gain to the Oakland 15.
After Gains ripped off 11 yards, West ran left, cut inside and zipped into the end zone with 5:23 left in the third quarter, setting the final score at 14-7 after Grayson Powell’s kick for the extra.
After the first quarter ended in a defensive standoff, Riverdale drove 80 yards early in the second.
West found tight end Eric Wallin open for a 35-yard gain down to the Oakland two. After one of many false start or illegal procedure penalities that marred the game, Gains picked up six before Adam Davenport bulled into the end zone.
After a swap of punts, Oakland staged its only touchdown drive as Adams twice hit Jarrod Hargis for gains of 11 and 17 with Riverdale adding a 15-yard penalty, moving the ball to the Riverdale 37.
Adams then hit Joell Keeling for 22 yards to the Riverdale 14.
Tee Mayberry, shut down most of the night, made a cut up the middle and rocketed into the end zone to set up a 7-7 halftime tie.
The winner of next week’s Riverdale-Maryville game will advance to the championship game against the winner of Brentwood-White Station.
Brentwood beat intracounty rival Franklin, 21-20, in overtime while White Station eased past Whitehaven, 21-16.
Oakland defeated Franklin in the Class 6A finals last season.
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