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Riverside rolls over Montrose

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 19, 2024

A rare Thursday Night Lights matchup was on tap as the Montrose Meteors came in to visit the Riverside Vikings. Riverside opened their season strong with a 4-0 start in which they’ve outscored their opponents 161 to 41. Montrose came in winless at 0-3 with some lopsided losses.

Tonight, it was a lot more of the same for both teams.

Montrose has a few nice early drives but could not score on the Vikings, who looked the part on both sides of the ball. QB Chase Taddonio threw for 6 TD’s as Riverside got the shutout 55-0 at Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Stadium.

Riverside won the toss and took the opening kickoff. QB Chase Taddonnio went to work right away as he hit one of his favorite targets, TE Richie Kostoff, on a nice screen pass for 29 yards. Taddonio also hit Kostoff for another nice 19-yard gain on the opening drive, and he capped the drive with a nice 9-yard touchdown pass to WR Jared Jackson. The PAT missed but Riverside took the early 6-0 lead with 9:21 left in the 1st quarter.

Montrose started their first drive at their own 20 and were determined to move the ball. QB Weston Nabywaniec, RB Julio Sena-Clavijo and RB Jamier Robinson were used interchangeably on the drive as they confused the Viking defense. On 3rd-and-9 from their own 21, the Meteors used a pitch to Sena-Clavijo who handed it then to Robinson on the reverse that went for 27 yards and a 1st down. Then on 3rd-and-8 from the Riverside 48 it was Nabywaniec who broke free on a scramble for 21 more yards and another 1st down. The Viking defense then stood tall and put big pressure on the QB, with DL Tavian Branch and LB Richie Kostoff both terrorizing the backfield and forcing quick decisions for Montrose. On 4th-and-10 from the Riverside 27, another reverse to Robinson gained 13 yards and another 1st down. On 3rd-and-13 from the 17, the Meteors appeared to have scored on a nice 17-yard TD pass but an ineligible man downfield penalty took the points off the board. The Vikings then ratcheted up the pressure big time, forcing an incomplete pass on 3rd down and then a forced fumble on 4th down that resulted in a turnover on downs.

Riverside took over at their own 22 and struck quickly. Taddonio hit the ground running immediately for 27 yards on the keeper and then a 5-yard run by WR Carmello Barnett was aided further by a 5-yard facemask penalty on the Meteors. On the very next play, a 1st-and-10 from the Montrose 39, Taddonio threw it to WR Brayden Rose for a 39-yard scoring strike that made it 13-0 Riverside with only 58 seconds left in the 1st quarter.

As the 2nd quarter began, Montrose had moved the ball near midfield at their own 45. Unfortunately, on a 3rd-and-10 from the 45, Branch rushed right up the middle and sacked Nabywaniec for a 5-yard loss and forced a punt. Taking over at their own 44, Riverside worked their way down the field again. Taddonio had 4 more completions on the drive, including 2 to Kostoff. Taddonio capped the drive when he hit Jackson again from 10-yard out to increase the Viking lead to 20-0 with 4:47 left in the half.

Montrose then started an inspired drive at their own 20, and Robinson had a huge run into Viking territory to start things off but a holding penalty brought it back to the 23. Facing a 4th-and-9 at their own 21, the Meteors went into their bag of tricks and successfully pulled off a fake punt as the ball was snapped directly to Sena-Clavijo who ran it around the end for 11 yards and a 1st down. Unfortunately, the Viking defense then loaded the box to stop the Meteor ground attack. Montrose gained only 5 yards on the next 3 plays and then went for it on 4th-and-5 from their own 37 but were stopped for no gain and a turnover on downs. Riverside, taking over at the Montrose 37 with time running out, had an incomplete pass on 1st down but then Taddonio hit Jackson again for a 37-yard score that gave Riverside a 27-0 lead at halftime.

Montrose lined up to receive the 2nd half kickoff, hoping to get good field position. They got just that when an onside kick attempt went out of bounds and a 12 men on the field penalty against Riverside put the Meteors at the Riverside 48. Unfortunately, disaster struck when Nabywaniec scrambled under pressure and was hit and fumbled. The ball was recovered by Viking LB Madden Sandly at the Riverside 46. Taddonio wasted no time as he hit Rose for 26 yards to the Montrose 28, and then went right back to Rose again on a great 28-yard catch-and-run TD. With 11:22 left in the 3rd quarter, Riverside lead it 34-0.

Montrose tried to get some momentum on their next drive but ended up losing 10 yards on their 3-and-out and they punted it away. As Riverside took over at their own 49, Taddonio again struck quickly as he hit Rose again for 17 yards and went right back to him again on the next play for a 34-yard score that made it 41-0 Riverside with 7:56 left in the 3rd quarter.

With the mercy rule invoked, Riverside substituted in backup players on both sides of the ball. Montrose could not get any momentum the rest of the game, and Riverside added 2 more scores in the 4th quarter. Backup QB Cooper Borowski scored on a 4-yard keeper with 11:28 to go in the game, and on the next Viking drive it was WR Jace Gaughan who scored on a 23-yard TD run to cap the scoring. As time expired, Riverside claimed the 55-0 shutout win.

After the game, Vikings Junior DL Tavian Branch spoke about how well he is playing on defense: “Well I’m just getting my momentum, getting into my groove. I’ve got a lot of nice guys next to me, and we’re just cranking and working hard.” Vikings Senior QB Chase Taddonio talked about throwing so well on the run: “Yeah, that honestly didn’t really come from the football training aspect, that’s more of my childhood in baseball learning how to throw from all different funky positions… that kinda translated over to football, and that’s where I found that hidden talent and I was able to make a couple of good plays tonight and over the course of my career.”

Riverside improved to 5-0 and will face a improved Susquehanna squad next Friday night. Montrose fell to 0-4 and will look to get in the win column at Carbondale next Friday night.

Check out photos from tonight’s game here:  PHOTO GALLERY

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