Football Preview: Riverside Ram vs. Independence
The Riverside Ram are taking a road trip to square off against Independence at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Riverside is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 27.7 points per game this season.
Last Thursday, Riverside came up short against Briar Woods and fell 31-21. While losing is never fun, the Ram can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Virginia football rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Falcons are ranked 35th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Robert Evelyn, who threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns. 82 of those passing yards were hauled in by Hunter Davis, who also brought in two receiving touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the third road match was the charm for Independence, as they earned their first road win of the season. They secured a 37-31 W over Lightridge on Thursday. Independence's offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Independence's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Robert Kellen, who rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns, and Justin Jordan, who gained 149 total yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Jordan a new career-high in rushing yards. Nick Nassib was another key player, throwing for 139 yards and a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Independence was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 362 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 151 rushing yards in three consecutive games.
This is the second loss in a row for Riverside and nudges their season record down to 3-3. As for Independence, the win also got them back to even at 3-3.
Riverside and Independence were neck-and-neck when the teams last played back in October of 2023, but Riverside came up empty-handed after a 22-21 defeat. Can Riverside avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
