Rebels defeat Devils on last leg of road trip

Making their third long road trip in as many weeks, the Riverside Rebels met the Hulett Red Devils on Saturday, Sept. 14 and emerged with a 66-36 win.

“We thought we should win that one, but being new, you just don’t know about other schools,” Coach Jason Mitchell said. “Even if you think things are great for you, you don’t have the background of having seen what the other schools are doing.” 

The Rebels generated more than 500 yards of offense. Reece Whisenant accounted for most of it, rushing for 372 yards on 19 carries to go along with 36 yards on two catches.  

Quarterback Avery Clifford added 37 rushing yards and was 8-of-18 passing for 82 yards.

Mitchell said his team’s passing stats were somewhat misleading. 

“I was happy with the thoughts and decisions that our kids made while throwing the football,” he said.  “I was really pleased with our receivers, who are now having to do more run blocking. [They] did an excellent job.”

Mitchell said Curtis Strohschein displayed one of the best downfield blocking performances of his high school career and described the fourth quarter Jackson Womack to Elias Jensen touchdown pass as “one of the most exciting plays of the afternoon.”

“We were a very different team than we were in week one,” said Mitchell. “You could tell that we had a bit of live six-man football under our belt.”  

This week

After spending the first three weekends on the road, the Rebels can now look forward to playing five of their last six games in Big Horn County.  From here on out, the farthest they’ll travel to play is to Ten Sleep on Oct. 5.

Riverside’s home opener is Friday, Sept. 20 against Little Snake River. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

“We’ll get another opportunity to see what six-man football looks like when played at the highest level,” said Mitchell.

Riverside 66, Hulett 36

RUSHING — Riverside: Reece Whisenant 19-372; Avery Clifford 4–37; Hyson Hill 2-19; Wyatt Daly-Patterson 1-7; Zack Kuntz 1-5.

PASSING — Riverside: Avery Clifford 8-of-18 for 82 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs; Jaxon Womack 1-of-1 for 36 yards, 1 TD; Ryder Kozisek 0-3 for 0 yards.

RECEIVING — Reese Whisenant 2-37, Wyatt Daly-Patterson 2-30, Hyson Hill 3-18.

DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS — Wyatt Daly-Patterson led with 12 total tackles and a blocked extra point; Ryder Kozisek and Hyson Hill were in on 10 tackles each; Hyson Hill had an interception and two pass break-ups, Michael Bassett had nine tackles, a sack and an interception and Gavyn Cervantes had six tackles and an interception.