River Ridge stymies Lecanto’s run game and cruises to key 3A-Suburban, District 6 victory
NEW PORT RICHEY, FLORIDA- When Greg Miller took the head coaching job at River Ridge High School, he envisioned a program winning district titles.
Making the playoffs and eventually, a team that could contend on the state ranks. Up until Tuesday night, the Royal Knights had been an up-and-down kinda of team.
The Royal Knights showed the North Suncoast that they’re a team on the rise with back-to-back victories. River Ridge rode the right arm of Logan Howard and the legs of sophomore tailback Deanthony Patterson en route to a dominating 34-0 win over Lecanto at the Jim Valentine Sports Complex in a Class 3A-Suburban, District 6 matchup.
River Ridge is now on a 2-game winning streak.
Photo courtesy of Mike Carlson, River Ridge High School
“Coming back after the hurricane, we wanted to knock off some cob webs,” River Ridge head coach Greg Miller said. “The biggest thing is building from Lecanto and Nature Coast and winning back to back games. That’s two shutouts in back to back games.”
River Ridge (3-3) started off the scoring barrage with a fast paced drive capped with a 2-yard touchdown by Howard on a quarterback sneak. Howard (11-of-16, 150 yards) connected on his first four passes and the offense played with urgency in the first half.
The Royal Knights (3-3, 1-1) built on their lead as safety Braden Cook snatched the JT Tipton pitch and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. Armed with a sizable lead, River Ridge did a lot of different things to chew time off the clock.
River Ridge kept applying pressure in the first half, building a 27-0 lead by halftime after a pair of scoring runs by sophomore running back Deanthony Patterson (11 carries, 48 yards). Sam Cheek had himself a nice night for River Ridge, rushing for 43 yards on 15 touches.
“The energy with everyone is clicking together,” Howard said. “On both sides of the ball. The defense is helping us out tremendously. The field position has been crazy good. When you get the ball and you’re already past the 50-yard line, can’t ask for anything better.”
Howard finished with 150 yards passing on 11-of-16.
Photo courtesy of Mike Carlson, River Ridge High School
Lecanto’s offense was stagnant throughout the night after its initial opening drive. Amir Wilson (14 carries, 64 yards) and Darius Gainer were the primary playmakers for the Panthers (3-2, 1-1), but could not get much going versus a stiff Royal Knights’ defense.
The Panthers ended up making a switch at quarterback from Tipton to sophomore Dalton Curry, who gave the team a little bit of a a spark. Despite making the switch, it never resulted in any points for Lecanto.
The rare Tuesday night game for both teams could’ve played a factor as programs had to make adjustments off of Hurricane Ian to their schedules. Lecanto will get a chance to redeem themselves when they face rival Crystal River on Friday night. River Ridge faces Wiregrass Ranch on Saturday morning.
Lecanto allowing 34 is by far the most points the Panthers yielded all season.
Photo courtesy of Mike Carlson, River Ridge High School
“Yeah it is weird,” Lecanto head coach Chop Alexander said of his team playing on a Tuesday night. “Nobody can stop Mother Nature. A hurricane came through and we had to adjust the schedules and the game had to be played. It’s a district game. (River Ridge) had to make the same adjustments we had to make.”
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.
