A 28-point first half deficit was too much to overcome, as Chardon fell to Riverside 38-26 on homecoming night in Western Reserve Conference action.
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A 28-point first half deficit was too much to overcome, as Chardon fell to Riverside 38-26 on homecoming night in Western Reserve Conference action.
The Beavers (4-2, 1-0 WRC) simply owned Chardon (3-3, 0-1 WRC) in the first half, moving the ball through the air and on the ground.
Riverside’s first score of the game came with 2:39 to play in the first quarter, when running back Kyndall McCaleb capped off a time-consuming drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
McCaleb had a huge night against the Hilltopper defense, carrying the ball 25 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 8.9 yards per carry.
Hilltopper head coach Brian Landies credited McCaleb for being a tough runner to tackle.
“He’s a good player,” said Landies of McCaleb. “We were there a lot of times and he was breaking tackles at the line of scrimmage. That guy has legs as big as our offensive lineman.”
Chardon had no answer for the big back, and when the Beavers went to the air, they had success as well.
Wide receiver David Seibert hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bo Brandenhoff to increase the Beaver’s lead to 14-0 at the 7:07 mark of the second quarter.
Brandenhoff finished the night 7 for 12, with 112 yards and one touchdown. In the first half, he picked the Hilltopper secondary apart.
Six weeks into the season and Landies is growing more concerned with the secondary and its execution.
“When we make a mistake back there, it’s huge,” he said.
On Riverside’s next possession, McCaleb ripped off a 65-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0.
With just over two minutes left before halftime, McCaleb scored again. This time on an 11-yard run to make it 28-0.
Landies was frustrated with his squad’s overall performance in the first half. He also lamented how the Hilltoppers defense struggles to overcome adversity.
“There’s flashes of a good football team here, more than not, but when blow it man, it’s big,” he said.
The Toppers, who struggled offensively to move the ball, found a spark on the last drive, thanks to a big run by senior halfback Drayton Allgood to put the ball in the red zone with enough time for a couple of plays.
With no time left on the clock, sophomore quarterback Andrew Cole hit tight end Braedan Shultz for a 10-yard touchdown.
“I just saw the ball in the air and my tight end got his hands batted down, so I thought I had to get it,” Shultz said.
“We were gonna kick a field goal, but they called a timeout,” explained Landies. “Early in the drive they called a timeout and it made me change my mind about something. So when they called this timeout, I changed my mind again and Coach Percassi called a good play. It was supposed to go to Chuha, but ended up on Shultz’s hands.”
The score proved to be spark for Chardon, which played a cleaner game in the second half.
Early in the fourth quarter, Allgood broke off a 36-yard scoring run to make in 28-13. The senior would go on the finish the night with 179 yards rushing and two scores.
Less than three minutes later, the Hilltoppers struck again as senior running back Max Hannen hauled in a 77-yard touchdown pass from Cole.
“Everyone thought we were out of it and Coach P looked at me and said, ‘Hey, we gotta go make a play.’ They were so focused on Drayton as he did his job all game, and left me open.”
Hannen credited the work he and Cole have been putting in after practice to help their chemistry grow.
A week one offensive starter, Hannen moved to defense when Allgood moved the halfback.
“Dre stepped into that halfback role,” said Hannen. “I just got to keep earning my way back on the offensive side.”
“That play was called four times and he was wide open the first three times, but we couldn’t pull the trigger on it,” said Landies. “He might be our leading receiver because he had that big catch down at Massillon Jackson. He’s a guy who we are going to have to figure out how to get the ball more.”
With the Riverside lead down to 28-20, the Beavers tacked on a 30-yar field goal from Leo D’Astolfo and a Brandenhoff 20-yard touchdown run to up their margin to 38-20.
“There’s heart and fight with this team, for sure,” said Landies of the comeback. “That will always be the case here, but we have to find a way to eliminate these mistakes. We’re six weeks in and the same stuff is showing up over and over. We’ll have to figure out new ways to practice.”
With 1:16 to play, Allgood scored on a 4-yard run to make it 38-26, but the two-point conversion failed and Chardon would get no closer.
Ultimately, the first half hole was too much for Chardon to overcome.
“We played a better second half, but if we played a really clean second half we could have clawed our way back into it,” he said. “We were down 28-20 and threw a pick in their red zone. You can’t do things like that.”
“It’s something were going to have to work on in practice,” said Hannen. “We’re going to continue to build off the second half. Back-to-back losses is something will definitely motivate us at practice.”
On the night, Riverside racked up 409 yards of total offense – 297 on the ground and 112 through the air.
Chardon gained 374 yards of offense, with 219 coming on the ground.
