Riverside							

Lindamood Scores 3 More TDs; Big Reds Struggle Past Riverside, 18-7

Matt Lindamood seems to be a 6-foot, 215 pound magnet whose sole attraction is the end zone.

The junior running back crossed the goal line three times against Riverside to power the fifth ranked Big Reds to an 18-7 win over the stubborn Warriors at Quincy.

Now 4-0, PHS struggled against host Riverside, finding itself behind for the first time this season, 7-6 midway through the third quarter. But the Big Reds rallied behind the hard running of Lindamood and Charlie Taylor and some big plays on  defense from the likes of Joe Shafer, Nathan Conley and Lindamood.

While Lindamood was busy scoring on a nine yard pass from Andy Thomas and runs of 22 and 10 yards, teammate Taylor was running for a game-high 108 yards on 16 carries. Lindamood finished with 90 yards on 14 attempts as PHS ran for 226 yards on 45 carries. Thomas hit seven of 11 passes for 64 yards with Conley catching three for 28 yards.

The Big Reds suffered a scoreless standoff through the first 24 minutes, thanks, in part to two lost fumbles. PHS also misfired on a first quarter scoring opportunity when Tyler Warner's 42 yard field goal attempt had plenty of distance but struck the left upright and bounced away.

Riverside, now 1-2, was held to only five yards on 24 rushes (thanks to three quarterback sacks which lost 39 yards) but quarterback Nick Veazey did complete 12 of 29 passes for 236 yards, 72 of which came on a touchdown pass to Chuckie Erby. That TD followed the pattern of PHS allowing one TD per game, all coming as the result of a long play.

The game started with PHS putting together a typical run-oriented drive. Taylor broke through for 21 yards on the first Big Red offensive play of the game and two plays later Lindamood picked up 17 on one of his patented jaunts through the middle. On fourth down and six to go, Thomas found Conley for a seven yard pass completion to the Riverside 24 but a third down sack forced Warner onto the field for a 42 yard field goal try that looked good until it struck the left upright about halfway up the pole.

Riverside seemed inspired by that stop and proceeded to run off 14 plays, picking up four first downs, before running out of gas on the PHS 26 yard line with three straight incomplete passes.

The Big Reds then drove to the Riverside 19 with a typical 11 play drive (one pass along the way) but Taylor fumbled the ball on a first down play and the Warriors were back in business.

Going to the air on six of their next 12 plays, the Warriors moved to the PHS 28 yard line before Matt Winans hit Riverside's 255 pound fullback and Shafer was there to recover.

However, PHS gave the ball right back three plays later when Thomas hit Lindamood with a screen pass and the ball popped loose.  A sack by Lindamood thwarted that series and halftime came with double zeroes on the scoreboard.

A Riverside late hit penalty on the second half kickoff return put PHS in good field position at the Warriors' 47.  In 10 plays Lindamood found the end zone on a pass from Thomas with 6:48 on the clock. The extra point kick sailed wide left.

That set the stage for the home team to take the lead. On their third play from scrimmage, the Warriors' Veazey connect with a Erby on a short hitch pass to the left sideline and the Riverside junior zig-zagged through the PHS defense, breaking away from at least three would-be tacklers on a 72 yard run with 5:41 on the clock. The extra point kick was good and PHS found itself in unfamiliar territory this season, trailing on the scoreboard.

After an exchange of punts in which the Big Reds got the better field placement by 22 yards, PHS started on the Riverside 38 and took just five plays to go back on top on a 22 yard run around left end by Lindamood with 3.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Shafer saw to it that Riverside did not answer that score as he sacked he quarterback for a 13 yard loss to force another punt - this one traveling just 18 yards to the Warrior 33 yard line.

Although hit with a holding penalty right off the bat, PHS took advantage of two pass interference penalties against Riverside to advance to the 10 yard line from where Lindamood lumbered over the left side to make it 18-7 with 4:45 left in the game.

Forced to pass now on every play, Riverside had a couple of big connections before Veazey found Chris Bowyer over the middle for a pass and run play which covered 55 yards for a touchdown. However, a clip was detected at the nine yard just as Bowyer was about to cross the goal line and the score was erased and the ball moved back to the 19. Three passes netted just one yard and on fourth down Conley made a big defensive hit on the receiver as he was about to catch the ball for a first down and that incompletion sealed the victory.

In the second half Riverside completed six of 14 passes for 162 yards but was minus 19 yards on the ground while PHS had 125 yards rushing and 45 yards passing in the final 24 minutes.