While Hahnville and Destrehan’s clash next week won’t lack for hype, it won’t be a battle of undefeated teams.
Host Riverside handed Hahnville its first loss of the season, 19-8, in a battle of River Parishes championship hopefuls.
“We couldn’t block them really well,” said Hahnville coach Nick Saltaformaggio. “They did a much better job in terms of preparation and execution. Talent-wise, I think it’s fairly close to equal. I felt like our kids played really, really hard. But when you play a team that’s been in the Dome, and has a great chance of doing it again, you’ve got to do the little things right, and we didn’t do enough of them.”
Rebels quarterback Jordan Loving accounted for three touchdowns to lead Riverside (2-1) to victory in a defensive slugfest played on a rain-soaked field.
Anthony Williams scored Hahnville’s lone touchdown.
Turnovers were Hahnville’s bane on this night. The first came following a 54-yard Devonte Clark run; an interception deep in Riverside territory killed the Tigers’ drive. The second was a fumble that ended Hahnville’s second drive of the night.
Riverside struck first on Loving’s 1-yard quarterback keeper to make it 6-0 late in the first quarter.
A potential turning point came late in the first half and proved one of the more critical sequences of the game. Rashad Domino intercepted a Loving pass to give the Tigers a chance to drive and tie the game at the half. But on the very next play, Riverside’s Amauchech Nnaji-Collins intercepted Hahnville’s Austin Perrin.
That set up a RA score. With less than 30 seconds remaining before halftime, Loving found Freddy Means on a play-action pass for an 11-yard touchdown to make it a 12-0 halftime lead for the Rebels.
Riverside held Williams in check for most of the evening, building their two-touchdown halftime lead with Williams accounting for just 15 first-half rushing yards. The Rebels also kicked away from the ever-dangerous returner throughout the night.
In the fourth quarter, Riverside took advantage of a 65-yard run by Jeremy Gibson when Loving’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Elliot Veron made it 19-0 with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
Hahnville (2-1) quickly responded, capping its next drive with a 1-yard Williams touchdown run with nine minutes left. The Tigers defense then forced a Rebels punt and after a high snap recorded a safety to make it 19-8.
But Riverside held serve from there, and as a result moved to 2-1.
Gibson led Riverside with 168 yards rushing on the night.
“I thought what they did with their play calling allowed them to keep things at a reasonable down and distance, and that gave them the opportunity to be the more aggressive team,” Saltaformaggio said. “We had to try and play catch up. They’re very, very good and we had our hands full.”
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