RIVER’S Carter Dennis runs with the ball during Friday night’s 49-13 rout of Reedsville Eastern in a Division VII, Region 27 quarterfinal contest at Martin Flannery Field in Hannibal.

HANNIBAL — Michael Johnson is one of those electric players that will drive a head coach nuts and then make him smile moments later.

The River senior scored four touchdowns and accounted for 235 total yards as the third-seeded Pilots navigated their way to the Ohio Division VII, Region 27 semifinals with a 49-13 verdict over outmanned No. 11 Reedsville Eastern Friday night at balmy Martin Flannery Field.

Johnson caught three touchdown passes from Brody Lollathin but it was his 85-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter that had veteran River head coach Mike Flannery shaking his head.

“He’s going to give me heart attacks and he’s going to make me a happy camper, but at the end of the game I’m usually a happy camper,” Flannery said of the fleet-footed Johnson.

“When he gets the ball in open space something good is going to happen.

“People who key on Carter Dennis can’t do that when Michael plays like he did tonight,” Flannery added. “Carter didn’t carry the ball much tonight, but when he did he did it well. He also caught that screen pass and really made some moves on his way to the end zone.”

River came out throwing the ball and never really stopped as sophomore quarterback Brody Lollathin set a career-high for TD passes in a game.

“We came out and did something we haven’t done all year with that series of passes,” Flannery revealed.

“That’s something we save for the prom every year. Sometimes we put it in our back pocket and we don’t get it out. Tonight, fortunately, we got it out and we reacted well to it.”

The Pilots (6-2) took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Dennis and the first of Zac Hocutt’s seven PATs, Lollathin found Johnson on TD strikes of 29, 32 and 26 as the margin ballooned to 28-0.

The first scoring strike Johnson ran a post and was wide open. He had to work a little harder on the second as Lollathin lobbed the ball towards the end zone where the 5-9 Johnson outleaped an Eagles defender and caught the ball. The third connection was a flag pattern that Johnson caught in the left corner of the end zone.

Johnson finished with five receptions for 135 yards, returned a kickoff 85 yards and carried the leather twice for 15 stripes.

Lollathin was 15 of 24 for 261 yards.

“Not bad for a sophomore,” Flannery allowed. “But it’s those guys running the patterns and those big guys up front who don’t get their names in the newspaper.”

Those linemen include center Kobe Zola, right guard Marshall Bier, left guard Austin Creamer, right tackle Tyson Randall and left tackle Mason Randall. Not playing was senior Nate Bowers who was under quarantine but would be ready next week, according to the coach.

Jake Rose snagged a team-best six catches for 88 yards while River Thompson had three receptions, all on that opening drive that set the tone.

“We spread the ball around. People continue to key on Jake Rose and that opens things up for other players,” Flannery added.

With time winding down in the first half and Reedsville Eastern on the march, defensive end Chase Lawrence picked off his second pass of the half and lumbered 60 yards to paydirt with 2.1 seconds remaining.

“I told him he is going to anchor our 4×200 team this year. I coach track,” Flannery said with a smile. “He timed that perfectly. That kind of put the icing on the cake.”

It also allowed the clock to run continuously until the Eagles scored back-to-back touchdowns late in the final chapter.

Johnson took the kickoff after the second score and went untouched 85 yards to the end zone.

With the win, River will remain at home again next Friday as No. 7 Shadyside blanked second-seeded East Knox, 14-0, Friday night in Howard. A trip to the state semifinals will be on the line.

“It doesn’t matter, but we want to play Shadyside. We want to keep it here. We’re looking forward to that,” Flannery said.