By Tom Bragg, For Lootpress.com
QUINCY, W.Va. – Capital’s defense was plagued by big plays from the opposition all evening at Riverside on Friday, but it was a big play of their own late in the game that proved to be the pivotal one against the Warriors.
Riverside had the ball and the lead after intercepting Capital quarterback Fernando Valdivia near the goal line late in the fourth quarter, but two plays later sophomore Jermer Smith stripped the Warriors’ Bryce Green of the ball and returned it 25 yards to lift the Cougars to a 27-23 win on the road at Warrior Stadium.
“There were a couple of things that went wrong and they had capitalized off of it, we had a couple of snaps that were not good tonight and those are things we need to continue to work on,” Capital head coach Mark Mason said. “I’m just glad that our guys stuck together and played hard, finished the game up and won.
“Jermer just came out of nowhere and took the ball from him and by god he ran it all the way in. Touchdown. Big-time play.”
Capital (2-4) forced the first mistake by jumping on a Riverside (1-5) fumble on the opening drive of the game, but the Warriors struck first on the scoreboard when quarterback Caden Ray scrambled through the middle of the defense for a 21-yard touchdown early in the first quarter.
The Cougars hit back with a 12-play drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock, capping it with a fourth-and-goal pass from Valdivia to receiver David Robinson with 1:05 to play in the first quarter.
Riverside didn’t waste much time before landing another big blow, with Green bustling loose for a 43-yard touchdown run to put the Warriors back in the lead at 14-7 just before the end of the opening period.
Neither team did much on offense in the second quarter, but Riverside nearly scored on the final play of the half when Valdivia floated a pass into the flat that the Warriors’ Jakob Shanklin stepped in front of and returned deep into Capital territory before being caught by the Cougars’ quarterback and teammate Elias Cottrell.
It proved to be an important tackle, as Capital tied the game on the first play of the second half. Running back Cam Harris got through the first wave of Riverside defenders then turned on the jets down the sideline for a 65-yard touchdown run, and later in the quarter scored from three yards out to put the Cougars ahead 20-14 after a failed 2-point conversion attempt.
“That was huge for our team,” Mason said of Harris’ long touchdown to start the second half. “First we were down a little bit and morale was down, but we were trying to tell them in the locker room that, hey, we’ve got to get going and something good is going to happen.”
Harris, a sophomore, was the main weapon for Capital’s offense on Friday, carrying the ball 17 times for 160 yards and his two third-quarter touchdowns.
“Cam came to play for us tonight,” Mason said. “He had a shoulder injury, so he was kind of a little hurt during the week, but I’m glad that he persevered through the pain and the suffering and he showed off tonight. He did what he needed to do for the team.”
Riverside then turned to its running back to get back into the game, with Green carrying the ball seven times on a 12-play drive that ended on his eight-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 20-20 before Warriors’ freshman kicker Elijah Taft sailed an extra point attempt wide left.
After a quick Capital three-and-out, Taft came through for Riverside with a 25-yard field goal to put the Warriors ahead 23-20 with 8:32 remaining.
The Cougars began their next drive near midfield and a 33-yard Harris run moved them deep into Riverside territory before Valdivia went for a home-run ball that was intercepted by Riverside’s Logan Tudor near the goal line.
Two plays later Green was in the process of another long run when Smith stripped him and scored to put Capital in the lead for good.
“Our defense made some really good plays tonight,” Mason said. “There were a couple of times we let them out when we shouldn’t have, but I liked how they rallied down there.”
For Riverside, Green finished with a game-high 247 rushing yards with two touchdowns on 23 carries, while Ray ran four times for 37 yards and one touchdown. Capital quarterback Valdivia completed eight of 19 pass attempts for 78 yards and one touchdown while also throwing three interceptions in the win.
The Cougars are back in action next week against Spring Valley at home in Charleston, while Riverside is on the road at winless South Charleston.
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