River Uses Punishing Ground Game To Run Past Cameron

Pilots Navigate Way To 363 Yards On The Ground In 25-20 Win

CAMERON - River remained unbeaten at the midway point of the season Friday night by using its huge offensive line and a three-headed monster in the backfield.

The Pilots (5-0) rushed 47 times for 363 yards and four touchdowns in spoiling Homecoming festivities on Dragon Field with a 25-20 victory over Cameron (1-2). River had 16 carries of 10-plus yards.

"We did what we needed to do. I thought our defense did a heckuva job," an elated veteran River head coach Mike Flannery said. "This was a great atmosphere here tonight. To come up here and play the way we did speaks a lot about this team.

"Our offensive line got a push on just about every snap," Flannery noted. "They played really well. Games are won in the trenches."

That group includes tight ends Ayson McBride (6-2, 210) and Crestyn Isaly (6-0, 165), and interior linemen Drake Boughner (5-11, 200), Wyatt Jones (6-3, 320), Michael Schultheis (6-0, 230), Cooper Roberts (6-0, 250) and Jayden Jones (5-10, 280).

Senior Peyton Weese carried the ball 10 times for 156 yards and a pair of scores to lead the charge. He had seven of the aforementioned double-digit runs, with his 17-yard jaunt up the middle of the field late in the third quarter proving to be the game-winner as it put the visitors ahead, 25-13 after Carson Jones split the uprights with the PAT.

"A lot of teams have been keying on (Wyatt) Stalder and that makes him that more dangerous. He's an athlete," Flannery added. "He plays basketball and he's a track athlete.

"It's a team thing," Flannery stressed. "I told the linemen the other day that the backs get their names in the paper and you guys keep patting them on the back."

The Dragons didn't quit, however.

Marshall Holland spun his way into the end zone from a yard out with 2:04 left to play and Talen Brown's placement made it 25-20.

Brown, a jack-of-all-trades, then pooched the ensuing kickoff that rolled the mandated 10 yards before Griffen Miller pounced on it at the Rider 49. However, Reed came up just shy of the sticks on fourth down as the Pilots held on for a cherished road victory.

"They were big and well-coached," Cameron head coach Tim Brown said of the Pilots. "Their line is not only big but they keep their feet moving and they have good hand placement. Coach Flannery has been doing this for 45 years and it shows that the small details matter. They did a great job."

River took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards on six plays as Wyatt Stalder swept around his left end from 21 yards out. The PAT was wide right.

Cameron responded with a 11-play, 68-yard drive that culminated on a 34-yard run by Brown around right end and down the home sideline. His ensuing PAT put the Dragons on top, 7-6.

The Pilots re-took the lead, 12-7, on a 2-yard run by Cam Abbott, but the run for two points was stopped.

After holding the Dragons on downs, River marched 88 yards on 13 plays and used a little more than six minutes to increase the margin to 18-7 on a 3-yard burst by Weese.

"I was proud of the way my kids responded," Brown added. "There are some teams that would have folded in that situation, but they did not. They kept fighting ... kept battling. One play here or one play there we win this ballgame."

Cameron sliced the deficit to 18-13 just before the half as Soier Reed squeezed in from a yard out. However, a bad snap on the placement resulted in an interception in the end zone.

River's Ayson McBride picked off a Reed pass on Cameron's next series of downs, setting up Weese's game-winning touchdown.

"We're going to have some tough games down the road. I think we had one turnover and if we don't have that turnover, we win the game," he continued. "You have to understand the game about inches when you play a good opponent, and we just played a good opponent and made one more mistake than they did."

Stalder also joined Weese with 100-plus yards on the ground with 107 on 15 totes. Hard-running Trey Larrick finished with 12 carries for 75 and Abbott added 30, which also equalled his passing total on a perfect 3-for-3 night.

Reed led Cameron with 18 carries for 142 yards. He was just 4-of-8 through the air for 29 stripes. Holland added 48 yards on 16 trips and Brown had 48 on five carries.

Ava Magnone was crowned Homecoming Queen at halftime.

When asked if he was surprised to be 5-0 at the halfway point, Flannery quickly replied, "No. You bet on your kids and I'll take mine over anybody anytime."

Cameron heads to Tucker County on Friday, while River treks a little more than three hours to Everett, Pa., located in Bedford County.