Football: Newsome 42, Riverview 28

RIVERVIEW — On a night that featured three 100-yard rushers, a 250-yard passer and 70 points, the Newsome defense produced the two pivotal plays that sent the Wolves to a 42-28 victory against previously unbeaten Riverview on Friday.

And the turning points came early.

The first came after the teams exchanged touchdowns on quick drives to open the game. Riverview (5-1, 1-1 District 8A-8) was on the march again, moving 30 yards in three plays. Just as Riverview quarterback Stazion Gage appeared ready to slip out of the backfield for an extended gain at midfield, he was caught from the back side and the ball was knocked out. Newsome's Rylan Reese recovered, setting up Newsome's eight-play scoring drive that gave the Wolves a 14-7 lead.

The second came as Riverview attempted an immediate answer.

The Sharks marched 76 yards in three plays, setting up a first and goal at 4. They advanced no farther.

"That was ridiculously huge," Newsome coach Christian Yockey said of the goal-line stand. "Not only do we get the stop, but then we go 99 yards on a big, big drive to score. That stop was huge."

Newsome (5-1, 2-0) stopped quarterback Gage just short of the goal line on third down and stood up the pile on an attempted sneak from a half yard out on fourth.

“We make a couple of plays, get down in there and ...” Riverview coach William Mosel said. “For a young ball club, like we are, those are the huge things that keep the momentum going for you. After that (stop), we were always chasing the momentum. We’d get a little, but we could never keep it going.”

Buoyed by the defensive stop, Newsome marched 12 plays and 99 yards over seven minutes, 17 seconds. The drive was capped by Jason Albritton’s second of his three touchdowns. More importantly, the 3-yard run gave Newsome a 14-point lead. And although the teams kept marching up and down the field trading touchdowns, Riverview could never dig out of that hole.

Newsome’s running game, once again, deserved the credit for keeping the pressure on and wearing down an opposing defense. Riverview came out determined to not let Albritton beat it — and held him to 33 yards on 10 first-half carries. However, the sophomore still pounded out 103 yards on 23 carries — his third consecutive 100-yard game. Newsome overcame Riverview’s plans with depth. Four players rushed for at least 50 yards, led by Landon White’s 108 yards (one touchdown), and Deandre Perez scored twice. The Wolves scored on six of their first seven possessions.

Riverview simply couldn't keep up, though the Sharks stayed close until midway through the fourth quarter.

The Wolves' game plan was to not have Gage, who entered with a team-high 460 yards rushing, beat them on the ground.

"He's a tremendous runner," Yockey said. "We wanted him to throw it. We didn't want him and (Cheyenne) Greaves running because they are unreal."

While the Wolves held Gage to 11 rushing yards through three quarters. Greaves picked up the slack, rushing for 100 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter. Gage, after missing his first pass attempt, connected on nine consecutive attempts, a streak extending late into the third quarter. He had nearly 150 yards passing by halftime en route to 249 yards overall. The sophomore ran for a score and passed for a touchdown, a 22-yard toss to Devin White. It wasn't enough.

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“You can’t turn the ball over three times, you can’t get stopped on the 1 in the first half,” Mosel said. “The point I made to the guys after the game is how are you going to bounce back from this? How are you going to respond? Everything has been going real well for us so far, so how are we going to handle adversity.”

With the victory, Newsome stays atop the district standings and sets up a potential title-showdown with Sarasota Riverview on Oct. 18.

Notes: Both teams play their final non-district game next week: Riverview hosts Leto and Newsome plays at Robinson. ... Both teams need one victory for a winning record this season. Newsome’s last winning record was 2017 and last playoff berth was 2012. Riverview’s last winning record was 2007 (6-5), a season that capped three consecutive playoff appearances. ... The Wolves were the first team with a winning record the Sharks had faced this season.