JOHNSTOWN — Nothing makes a coach’s hair turn gray faster than turnovers and penalties, and both occurred often for Roosevelt High School on Friday night.
Luckily for Roosevelt coach Noland Eastin, he has no hair to turn gray and his team survived the mistakes in a 58-34 win over Mead High School.
A plethora of flags on the field created a long night of football in Johnstown, most going against Roosevelt (6-4, 5-0 TVL) in a high-scoring affair in the final regular season game for the RoughRiders. Roosevelt committed 13 penalties for 125 yards
If penalties weren’t enough, three lost fumbles out of seven on the night kept Mead (3-7, 1-4 TVL) just close enough to be dangerous.
The first quarter of play was dominated by Roosevelt, which wasted no time putting points on the board less than two minutes into the game. Quarterback Spencer Urban capped off the Roughriders’ opening drive with a 9-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead.
Big plays propelled the Roosevelt offense on its next three possessions, mostly through the air to senior wide receiver Mark Rios. Rios hauled in two passes for 95 yards putting the RoughRiders in excellent scoring position.
Roosevelt found the end zone on each possession on runs by Josh Semmler and Daniel Kammerzell, and an 11-yard strike to Rios. By the end of the first frame Roosevelt had built a 28-0 advantage.
The second quarter was a different story all together. Roosevelt suffered from costly penalties and even more damaging fumbles to set up Mead with two short fields. The Maverick capitalized on Roosevelt’s mistakes on two deep throws by junior quarterback Griffin Nelson for touchdowns for 35 and 54 yards respectively.
The RoughRiders responded with two more scores of their own and a safety following a high snap on a punt, taking a 44-14 lead into halftime.
In the second half of play the scoring slowed down as Roosevelt seized a commanding lead and proceeded to run the ball adding a late touchdown in the third quarter by Kammerzell.
Mead refused to quit, keeping the game from ever reaching the mercy rule, which takes place when a team gets ahead by 40 points. Nelson kept his team in the game by tossing three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but the Maverick defense couldn’t manage a stop to ever get within striking distance.
Roosevelt sealed the Tri-Valley League crown and will host a playoff game next Saturday against an opponent to be determined.
ROOSEVELT 58, MEAD 34
At Roosevelt H.S.
Mead (3-7) 0 14 0 20 — 34
Roosevelt (6-4) 28 16 7 14 — 58
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
RHS — Spencer Urban 9 yard run (Adam Chesquiere).
RHS — Josh Semmler 15 yard run (Chesquiere).
RHS — Daniel Kammerzell 4 yard run (Chesquiere).
RHS — Mark Rios 11 yard pass from Urban (Chesquiere).
Second Quarter
MHS — Logan Anderson 35 yard pass from Griffin Nelson (conversion failed).
RHS — Randy Molinar 4 yard run (Chesquiere).
RHS — SAFETY.
MHS — Alex Mead 54 yard pass from Nelson (conversion successful).
RHS — Kane Kratz 1 yard run (Chesquiere).
Third Quarter
RHS — Kammerzell 1 yard run (Chesquiere).
Fourth Quarter
MHS — Aaron Cheung 9 yard pass from Nelson (conversion failed).
RHS — Lincoln Schultz 15 yard run (Chesquiere).
MHS — James Richardson 4 yard pass from Nelson (Anderson).
MHS — Riley Simpson 38 yard pass from Nelson (Anderson).
