Riverside Rebels, Cody Broncs duke it out in the cold wind

The Riverside Rebels demonstrated they are working in the right direction as they competed against Cody’s JV on Thursday.  Cody won 52-40, but it was back-and-forth scoring throughout. It was a cold night, but Riverside and Cody put on a good show for fans who attended.  
Coach Jason Mitchell said, “Our o-line has begun to perform like we’d hoped they would with all the returning experience.  Curtis Strohschein has become a true leader of the unit and has become quite a handful for opposing defensive fronts, while Avery Clifford has completed his transition to the o-line and is one of the most athletic offensive linemen around.  Our freshman class has contributed well beyond what we were expecting prior to the season starting.  Several of them have contributed regularly on both special teams and on the offense or defense.  That includes Corbyn Godfrey, who has earned a starting spot on the offensive line and has played a key role on multiple special teams.”  
Cody started the game with a fumble on the kickoff. Ryder Kozisek was right there to take advantage of that mistake and recovered the fumble. The offense went to work, starting with Ty Strohschein’s 10-yard rush.  On fourth down Haydon Paxton caught a short pass and ran it to the 13-yard line.  Strohschein rushed all the way to the 1. Josh Wilman kept the ball and, with help from his team, pushed into endzone.  The referees called a penalty against the Rebels for pushing the ballcarrier into the endzone, so that touchdown was no good. This sent the Rebels back to the 5-yard line.  They proceeded to turn it over on downs. The Rebel defense made a stand and made Cody punt the ball from its own 10-yard line.  Wildman received the ball and ran it 15 yards.  The Rebels moved the ball down the field.  With 4:40 left on the clock Wildman tucked the ball and ran it in to the endzone.   Cody put together several good runs to get on the board, and with 2:57 to play, Cody tied it up 6-6.  Cody kicked off and Strohschein caught it and ran it all the way back for the touchdown.  Wildman ran the ball in for the extra 2 points.  With 2:41 on the clock Riverside was ahead 14-6. Cody moved the ball steadily down the field when Cooper Zierolf recovered a fumble for the Rebels. The offensive line gave Strohschein some holes to run through and he was able to get a 27-yard run. Reece Whisenant had two carries for a gain of 11 yards to get the first down; unfortunately the clock ran out on the first quarter before the Rebels could score.
The Rebels started off the second quarter a little shaky when they fumbled the ball and Cody came away with the recovery.  Cody was able to get the touchdown to tie up the game. The Rebels took over and on the first down with 10:34 on the clock, Strohschein ran a 63-yard touchdown, giving the Rebels the lead 20-14. Ty Strohschein sat out the rest of the game due to concerns of injury. The Cody’s offense was able to consistently move the ball and scored with 6:25 on the clock to take a two-point lead. The Rebel offense responded by moved the ball right down the field.  Hyson Hill had several good carries to get the Rebels the first down on Cody’s 45-yard line.  Whisenant had several good carries to get the Rebels to the 32-yard line.  Loomis Alexander got an open field catch to get another first down at the 18-yard line. Whisenant carried the ball again to get the Rebs to the 5-yard line. Wildman faked the hand off and carried the ball into the endzone. With 1:45 left on the clock, the Rebels were ahead again 26-22. Cody was able to come back and score with 35 seconds left in the first half.
The Rebels put together a series of plays to move themselves on down the field.  It started with Hayden Paxton’s being able to come down with the ball even though he was covered by three Cody Broncs.  Reece Whisenant had several good carries.  Josh Wildman used his quick feet to run the ball several times.  Loomis Alexander had a perfect catch and ran several yards, ending at the 11-yard line.  The play ended much the way it started with Wildman throwing the ball up to Paxton in the endzone and he came down with a completed pass.  Loomis Alexander caught the ball at the 2-yard line and ran it in for the extra the points.  With 7:38 in the third quarter the Rebels were ahead 34-28. Cody took over on offense. With 6:41 on the clock Rebels recovered the fumble by Wyatt Daly-Patterson.  Both teams were determined and were able to keep each other from scoring anymore in the third quarter.
Cody was the first to score in the fourth quarter. With 11:22 on the clock, the Broncs regained the lead. With 10:24 on the clock, Josh Wildman found Ryder Kozisek and competed the pass and ran it to the 25-yard line.  Thanks to the Riverside offensive line, Josh had time to complete two more passes to Paxton, moving Riverside to the 2-yard line. Whisenant carried the ball into the endzone to give the Rebels the lead, 40-36. Cody tacked on several more scores in the final eight minutes, eventually winning 52-40.
Coach Mitchell was happy with his team, “The game with Cody JV was one of the most productive weeks we’ve had since I’ve been at Riverside.  They had a quality of depth that we don’t see in many nine-man opponents.  I was extremely proud of our kids’ performance in Cody.  They came at us in waves when they were on defense, so for us to put up 40 points was something I’m proud of.  
Ty Strohschein had 146 yards rushing and an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.  Josh Wildman had 143 yards passing, Hayden Paxton had four catches, including two extremely tough third- and fourth- down catches to go with his 20-yard touchdown.
Riverside will be celebrating homecoming this week. Thursday’s homecoming parade starts at 1:30 p.m. The junior class’s chili feed fundraiser is Thursday from 5 to 7 at the school.  The Burning of the “R” will follow.  Homecoming week wraps up with the football game Friday at 7 p.m. against Shoshoni.  Riverside has four games left this season. If they can win them all, they will earn home-field advantage for the first round of playoffs.