Riverview Gardens players, coaches and administrators all took part in cutting the ribbon to dedicate the first home game on the school’s new grass field before a nonconference game against Northwest on Aug. 26.
The Lions, fresh off of their thrilling comeback victory against Francis Howell North in Week 1, hadn’t played football on a Saturday afternoon since 2014 and were searching for their first road victory since the third week of 2015.
After a scoreless first quarter, senior quarterback Lawrence Johnson and senior running back Davion Evers started to assert their big-play abilities as the Rams built a 14-0 halftime lead en route to a 30-14 win.
“We’d play good on two or three downs and we couldn’t get off the field on defense and we couldn’t sustain anything on offense,” Northwest head coach Corey Toenjes said.
Johnson and Evers had to overcome no fewer than 18 Riverview Gardens penalties, including four holding calls that negated first downs on its first series. On the Rams’ first scoring drive, Johnson connected with Evers for a 19-yard pass on fourth-and-7, then Johnson split the Lion defense down the middle as he burst into the end zone from 33 yards out with 7:57 left in the second quarter. Junior Michael Hogan caught Johnson’s pass for the two-point conversion to give the Rams a 8-0 lead.
The Rams held Northwest’s vaunted running game with fullback Calvin Cromer and halfback Caleb Camacho in check. The duo combined for 59 yards in the first half. Camacho led the Lions with 53 of their 102 yards on the ground.
“They beat us on the backside,” Camacho said. “They were more physical than us and that’s hard to say because we’re both smash-mouth kind of teams.”
Northwest launched a 13-play drive from its 21-yard line after the Rams scored and reached their 30. But a holding call on third-and-9 proved too much to overcome and Riverview Gardens would take over on downs and put itself in position to score before the half.
That drive was highlighted by a 27-yard catch by Hogan and ended with time expired and Evers standing in the Northwest end zone on the receiving end of a 23-yard TD reception. The two-point conversion failed and the Rams led 14-0.
“You don’t want to say it’s deflating, but in a way it was,” Toenjes said. “We knew they had a big-play offense and we prepared all week for it. (Johnson) had the big run to set up the touchdown and it caught us on our heels.
“We came out on fire in the second half (against Francis Howell North), but that touchdown took the wind out of our sails. We couldn’t get the momentum today.”
Northwest turned the ball over on downs at midfield on its first possession of the second half and the Rams took advantage of the short field with their third TD of the game. Evers caught a 17-yard scoring strike from Johnson and Christian Miles caught Johnson’s pass on the conversion for a 22-0 lead.
The Lions beat the Rams 34-32 in Week 2 last season and held Evers to 53 yards rushing and receiving. Evers had 106 yards rushing and 83 receiving on Saturday. Johnson led the Rams with 196 yards on seven carries and was 10-of-12 passing for 131 yards.
On fourth-and-8, the Lions kept their first scoring drive alive when junior quarterback Seth Fortner completed a 31-yard pass to Rylan Depew. Junior running back Tanner Campbell ran for a 10-yard gain on the drive that ended when Fortner rolled out of the pocket to his left and found senior Dillon Fisher standing alone in the center of the end zone for a 11-yard TD pass with 1:42 left in the third. Cromer ran in the conversion and the Rams’ lead was cut to 22-8.
Johnson recovered his own fumble to keep the next Riverview Gardens drive going and then gained 17 yards on a third-and-7 play before Evers scored on a 21-yard run with 9:48 left in the game.
With a Rams victory assured, the Lions took possession of the ball at their own 4 with 3:09 to play. They twice converted on third down to march toward the end zone, and the Rams were whistled for pass interference and too many men on the field in the waning seconds, allowing Cromer to scored from one yard out on an untimed down.
The Lions host Ritenour on Friday.
“I feel like we’ll respond great,” Camacho said. “It was hot and we’re not used to playing on Saturday, but I’m not making any excuses. Next week we’re going to come out put all of our effort into getting ready (for Ritenour).”