Williams Valley vs. Riverside

Recap

RIVERSIDE 28, WILLIAMS VALLEY 21

Chase Taddonio threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in the first half and held on to defeat Williams Valley 28-21. Riverside advances to the PIAA District 2 Class 2A semifinals against Troy from District 4. It’s the first time since 2010 Riverside advanced to the state semifinals.

There were none turnovers in the game including six by Williams Valley. Three of those turnovers turned into Riverside scores.

Williams Valley moved the ball on their first drive of the game before a fumble ended the drive.

Riverside would use a short three-play drive to take a 7-0 lead when Taddonio found a wide-open Richie Kostoff who raced down the sidelines for a 36-yd touchdown pass.

It appeared Williams Valley would answer with a long TD pass, but a holding penalty negated the score. They would fumble again and Taddonio would make them pay with a 46-yard touchdown run with :04 seconds left in first quarter and a 14-0 lead.

Williams Valley would put their best drive together of the first half. It took 9 plays and went 80 yards with Evan Achenbach catching a 10-yd pass from Brady Shomper to cut the lead in half.

Riverside would drive again only to have an interception end their drive in the end zone. Williams Valley would put together a drive befor halftime only to have Graydon Dupre sack Shomper and Madden Sandly recovered for Riverside.

They would then put together a quick 3-play drive that went 48 yards with Taddonio finding Carmello Barnett in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown reception.

Williams Valley would get the ball back with 0:34 seconds left, but fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Sonique Connell-Murray would return the fumble 17 yards and Taddonio would find J.J. Rogers in the end zone from 9 yards out for a 28-7 lead.

Riverside got the second half kickoff but went three and out.  Williams Valley would fumble again and Riverside recovered, but Taddonio would throw an interception deep in Williams Valley territory on 4th down.

Williams Valley would put their best drive of the game together converting three fourth downs and scoring Shomper’s 12-yard run to cut the lead in half. The drive was impressive but it took 19 plays and ran 8:13 off the clock.

On the next drive in the fourth quarter, Riverside would be the team that fumbles and the next play Fletcher Thompson would score on a 66-yard run to cut the lead to one score.

Williams Valley would get a couple more opportunities to tie the game including into the red zone on their last drive of the game only to have sacks and penalties push them back behind the chains and they turned the ball over on downs to end the game.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

RIV – Richie Kostoff 36-yd pass from Chase Taddonio (Santino D’Amico kick) – Riverside 7-0

RIV – Taddonio 46-yd run (D’Amico kick) – Riverside 14-0

2nd Quarter

WV – Evan Achenbach 10-yd pass from Brady Shomper (Sage Smeltz kick) – Riverside 14-7

RIV – Carmello Barnett 12-yd pass from Taddonio (D’Amico kick) – Riverside 21-7

RIV – J.J. Rogers 9-yd pass from Taddonio (D’Amico kick) – Riverside 28-7

3rd Quarter

WV – Shomper 12-yd run (Smeltz kick) – Riverside 28-14

4th Quarter

WV – Fletcher Thompson 66-yd run (Smeltz kick) – Riverside 28-21