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River bounces back by rolling past Bridgeport

T-L Photo/KIM NORTH RIVER’S FINN Bowers goes up the middle after taking a hand off from Kabel Isaly during Friday’s game at Bridgeport. The Pilots rolled, 49-8.

BROOKSIDE – When a team is coming off its first loss, it’s hard to gauge how it will respond.

River (5-1) scored touchdowns on six of its eight possessions Friday night and the special teams unit added a TD as the Pilots rebounded nicely from a setback to Barnesville with a 49-8 pounding of homestanding Bridgeport (3-3) on the natural grass surface of Perkins Field inside Bill Jobko Stadium.

Three of the Pilots’ first-half touchdown drives took less than a minute, with two of them ending in long scoring jaunts.

Kaden Johnson burst off the right side of the line on River’s second play from scrimmage and rumbled 69 yards to paydirt. Max Castro connected on the first of his six PATs. That drive took two plays and a mere 46 seconds.

With the Bulldogs punting from deep in their end of the field, River’s Lucas Dennis busted through the line and blocked Jaki Threets’ kick. The ball popped up in the air where Dennis alertly snagged it and sprinted 12 yards into the end zone. The placement failed for a 13-0 lead.

“The block started things rolling for us,” veteran River head coach Mike Flannery said. “That got us going because we were worried about Bridgeport’s offense, but I thought we did a really good job of holding them down.

“We wanted to let them catch the ball on the short passes and then converge on them defensively,” Flannery added. “We didn’t want to give up any big plays, and we didn’t until there at the end.”

After recovering its own muffed punt at the River 43, a 9-yard pass from Kabel Isaly to Brody Lollathin moved the ball to the Bulldogs’ 48. On the next play, Isaly handed off to Finn Bowers and he raced 48 yards off the left side to cap the 44-second scoring march and extend the lead to 20-0.

Following a short Bridgeport punt, the Pilots navigated 40 yards on two plays that ate up 34 ticks. Isaly found Lollathin for 15 yards before locating Ty Long down the middle of the field for a 25-yard scoring play. The point-after made it 27-0 at the half.

River marched 59 yards on 13 plays to start the third quarter as Isaly and Lollathin hooked up from 18 yards out. Moving around in the pocket to buy some time, Isaly found Lollathin crossing the field from left to right. He delivered a strike and Lollathin streaked into the end zone. Castro made it 34-0 as the OHSAA mercy rule kicked into effect..

Bridgeport, which managed just 113 yards of total offense, turned the ball over on downs, and the Pilots went 29 yards on four plays as Isaly found River Thompson on a 5-yard scoring play.

Bridgeport got 48 of its total yards on its first play of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Colin Jackson, who was under duress most of the night with several offensive linemen out of action and one going down early in the game, found Lamar Kendricks Jr. over the middle for a 48-yard gain. Two plays later, Joey Bugaj, lined up in the Wildcat, swept around right end for a 12-yard score. Peyton Pyle ran for the two points.

River added a late touchdown as Talon Ady capped an 8-play, 53-yard drive with a 6-yard TD run. Dennis added the conversion run.

Isaly passed for 180 yards on 16-for-24 and three TDs. Lollathin was on the receiving end of a half-a-dozen aerials for 70 yards. Thompson grabbed four balls for 50 and Long snarred three for 49. Bowers finished weith five carries for 77 yards and the Pilots charted 17 first downs while drawing a mere two penalties.

“I’m really pleased with how we played, both offensively and defensively,” Flannery noted. “Our offense line did a good job of blocking, the backs ran hard and Kabel was effective. Defensively, I thought our line pressured the quarterback and our linebackers and secondary did a good job of cleaning up.”

Jackson completed 14 of 18 attempts but only for 94 yards. He was picked off by Isaly. Kendricks Jr. caught 10 passes for 90 stripes. The Bulldogs managed a mere 19 yards rushing on 23 carries.

The Pilots host Ohio 7 rival Shadyside next Friday.

“We’ve got a week to prepare for that team up North,” Flannery advised.

Bridgeport visits Beallsville.

“We had four starters out up front. We’re playing freshmen and sophomores,” Bridgeport head coach Fred Ray said. “They (River) are a good team. We were in there in the first quarter … this is on us. They did what they needed to, and we didn’t do what we needed to do.”

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