The Riverside High School football team kept holding onto the rope, but eventually the strength and power of St. Joseph Catholic School proved to be too much as the Fighting Irish opened the season with a 39-7 home victory on Friday.
The Irish began their quest for a third straight MAIS state championship by taking a 14-0 lead into halftime, but the Bulldogs closed it to a one-score game when Demarius Pam bulldozed in for a 12-yard touchdown run with 9:27 left in the third quarter.
But, instead of a great finish, the final 12 minutes became an Irish victory lap.
St. Joseph’s Kaleb Lockett caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mekhi Norris to put the Irish up 20-7 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Then, after a Trey Benson interception, St. Joe’s Dillon Johnson scored his third touchdown of the game on a 27-yard pass from Norris.
St. Joseph’s Rhoderick Gentry Jr. then put the finishing touch on the victory when he scored his second touchdown of the game with seven minutes left until the final horn.
“It feels great to get the win,” Gentry, a transfer from Lake Village, said. “I came here to be on a championship team, and I think we showed a lot in this first game.”
Riverside coach Jim Risen said he was pleased with his team’s effort and also congratulated St. Joseph on the victory.
“They are a championship team, and we gave them a good game for a while,” Coach Risen said. “Our time is going to come. It just was not tonight.”
Along with Pam, Coach Risen praised the play of quarterback Christian Stringfellow and Carson Graham, among others.
St. Joseph head coach John Baker said his team has a lot of work to do if it hopes to win a third straight state championship.
“We played sloppy and we made way too many penalties.”
