Rebels shoot down the Buffs

Last Friday night Riverside traveled to Greybull to take on the Buffs for their homecoming and senior night.  Riverside took the lead and kept it all game, winning 24-14.  “It was admittedly a sloppy game on our part but give credit to Greybull for putting us in some tough situations,” said Coach Jason Mitchell.
Both teams came out determined and it showed in the defensive stances they took.  The Buffs kicked off to Riverside. The Rebels slowly moved it down the field to Greybull’s 49-yard line but turned it over on fourth down. Greybull’s offense moved the ball to Riversides 11-yard line, but the Rebels dug deep and prevented the Buffs from scoring.
On the first play of the second quarter, Ty Strohschein popped off a 56-yard rushing touchdown.  For the conversion points, Greybull sent a blitzing linebacker, causing Josh Wildman to roll out of the pocket and scramble to complete the pass to Hayden Paxton.
The on-side kick by Curtis Strohschein was recovered by Ryder Kozisek. Riverside started at the 49-yard line and came up short on the Greybull’s 12-yard line, turning it over on fourth down. But the Buffs offense fumbled the snap and Ryder Kozisek was there for another fumble recovery. Riverside offense took over on the 10-yard line. Two plays later, Riverside had a touchdown with the tuck-and-run from quarterback Josh Wildman. Ty Strohschein switched to quarterback and completed the pass to Josh Wildman for the two, making the score 16-0.
The rest of the second quarter was a back-and-forth battle, featuring an interception by Wyatt Daly-Patterson and a fumble recovery by Reece Whisenant. However, Riverside was unable to convert these into more points on the board.
Riverside kicked off to the Buffs to open the third quarter.  The Rebel defense made Greybull work hard for every inch, but the Buffs did score their first touchdown of the game and added the conversion to make it 16-8.
Early in fourth quarter, Strohschein carried it in for the touchdown and Reece Whisenant shook off several tackles to get the conversion points, bringing the score 24 to 8. Greybull was able to bring the ball down to Riversides 20-yard line before Riverside defense was able to dig in and push Greybull back 10 yards and cause turnover on downs with a sack by Ty Strohschein. Riverside smashed the ball down through the Greybull’s defense down to the 20-yard line. Greybull was able to strip the ball from Ty Strohschein and they came away with the fumble recovery. With less than a minute left on the clock, Greybull was able to get a few big plays and score with only 2.4 seconds left. Riverside came away with the win 24 to 14.
 “I couldn’t be more proud of how our kids continue to find ways to win games despite the adversity that we have encountered,” said Mitchell.  He was able to depend on Avery Clifford again. “Once again, Avery stepped up and made some big plays for us at quarterback after starting the game as center,” said Mitchell.  Clifford completed 6 out of 15 passes for 96 yards.  Josh Wildman completed 7 out of 10 passes for 63 yards.  Ty Strohschein had 34 carries for 202 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns and five receptions for 65 yards. Hayden Paxton had five receptions for 81 yards.  
Coach Mitchell called it “probably the most well-blocked game by our skill position players (wide receivers and running backs) in my three seasons at Riverside.”
Defensively, Ty Strohschein had 14 tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack. Whisenant had 13 tackles and one sack. Ryder Kozisek had 13 tackles, one tackle for a loss and recovered two fumbles. Wyatt Daly-Patterson had an interception.
The last regular season game is Friday, Oct. 20 against Big Piney. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Rebels need this last win to get home-field advantage for the first round of playoffs and it would give them the No. 2 seed for the nine-man West Conference.  Last week Riverside got enough votes to earn fifth place in the nine-man state rankings.