North Takes 6th Annual Big River Rivarly 25-13!

In a season marred by weather issues be it storms, rain, both... it was only fitting that it rain on the final game to be played this year in the 804. That game being none other than the 6th annual Big River Rivalry played at Randolph-Macon.

This growing tradition is presented by the Touchdown Club of Richmond with all proceeds going to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

It was a somewhat warm day compared to what it has been this week but it was gray and it was misty/rainy... We had been fortunate the previous five years to have beautiful sunny weather but not so much on this day.

The North came into this years all-star event with a 3-2 advantage in the series and with a 25-13 win, that advantage is now 4-2.

The story of the first quarter was the South. The South had the benefit of being on offense after the North won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Mykey Anderson of LC Bird returned the opening kick for 15 yards. From there the South went 77 yards on 11 plays with Dinwiddie QB Kymon Pope doing much of the work to put the South on the board first.

Pope had 39 yards rushing on this drive alone but he was not the one to put the finishing move on the North. That would be Tanner Addams of Monacan who punched it in from one yard out.

The South defense held the North to three 3 & outs in the first quarter of action. Penalties did not help matters for the North. On each possession the North was hit for a penalty.

While the South was held to three 3 & outs, the North returned the favor to the South after allowing that first touchdown.

After one quarter of play the South looked to be the better team with 56 yards of offense compared to 8 yards of offense by the North.

A minute into the second quarter the South had the ball on offense and was looking to make things happen. Kymon Pope had a rush of 9 yards and a pass completion of 11 yards to Colin Harding of Manchester.

The South however suffered a couple of setbacks... Keeron Henderson of Highland Springs got to Pope for a loss of 3 and Pope was hit for a loss of 4 on the very next play and lost the ball in the process. Isaac Abel of Atlee came up with the fumble recovery and the North had their first break of the game.

With this opportunity before them, the North made good on it. Covering 10 plays and 58 yards the North broke the shutout with 26-yard pass from the Springers D'Vonte Waller to Douglas Freeman's Liam Simpson!

Waller repeatedly came up with big passes on this drive... Waller hooked up with AJ Wells of Highland Springs for 20 yards and the Springers Tremaye Talbert for 15 yards. The South opted for a 2-point conversion rather than the PAT and it did not go the way of the North! The South led just 7-6.

Taylor Eggers of Trinity Episcopal was in at quarterback for the South on the next series for the South. The offense did not have the same production and the north got the ball back with 3:08 to go in the first half.

After a 31-yard pass play between Lee-Davis QB Zach Lass and the Springers AJ Wells, Lass was hit for a loss of 5 by the menacing Manny Hickman of Matoaca!

The South had the North right where they wanted them facing 3rd & 15! Then disaster struck... The South was called for roughing the passer giving the North a first down. A holding penalty pushed the North back 16 yards, 2nd & 26 they faced when Lass let it rip to AJ Wells for a big 59-yard touchdown! That connection put the North on top for the first time in this one. TJ's Keegan Vaughan PAT attempt was blocked by Cosby's Kam Bryant but the damage was done!

The South had the ball back for 12 seconds... Pope connected with LC Bird's Mykey Anderson for 4 yards and his next pass attempt was intercepted by the Springers Devyn Coles!

The South held the North to a 3 & out and the South's Taylor Eggers of Trinity Episcopal hit Manchester's Colin Harding with a 6-yard pass but halftime had descended upon us.

In the second quarter the script had been flipped with the North amassing 146 yards of offense to the South's 22!

Much of the story of the third quarter was defense... There was just 1 first down in the entire third quarter and that belonged to the South on their first possession of the third.

It was all about the run game on this possession with Mykey Anderson of LC Bird running for 26 yards and Kymon Pope adding to that with 29 yards of his own! Pope overcame a fumble on 3rd & 8 when Julian Ruiz of Clover Hill recovered the loose ball and kept it in the hands of the South.

Pope and the South faced a 4th & 2 after an incomplete on third down but Pope could not come away with the yards needed for the first. Instead the Springers Devyn Coles hit Pope for a loss of 2 yards!

The two sides exchanged punts before disaster struck again for the South. The South was called for a false start on first down but Tanner Addams of Monacan got 11 of those yards back on a big run. On 2nd down Pope was hit for a loss by Varina's Jaden Rodwell that backed them up 9 yards. That setup a pass attempt from Pope that ended up in the hands of Mills Godwin's Will Shulleeta who returned it 32 yards!

The North could not capitalize with the ball sitting 9 yards outside of the end zone. 2 runs netted just a yard as Matoaca's Manny Hickman continued to menace the offense. Zach Lass fired one to Freeman's Liam Simpson who dropped the pass. It was then up to Keegan Vaughan of Thomas Jefferson to bot a 27-yard field goal but the ball went wide right instead.

The South dodged a bullet and went back to work. Tanner Addams of Monacan again had a run of 8 yards but then it was Pope's time to shine. Pope took the keeper, found a lane to run alongside the South sideline and was off to the races to the end zone! A 72-yard touchdown run for the Dinwiddie QB! The 2-point conversion attempt by Pope failed but the South had reclaimed the lead, 13-12!

The South despite a blunder or two had come away the winner of the third quarter, up 13-12 and having out gained the north by 90 yards!

At the start of the 4th quarter it looked like the momentum was certainly in the favor of the South. Xavier Addison of Matoaca intercepted a D'Vonte Waller pass on 3rd & 13!

While Manny Hickman was menacing the North, the Springers Christian White was menacing the South offense. White came in on 2nd down and hit Pope for a loss of 6. When Pope's third down pass fell incomplete, the South found themselves punting.

Zach Lass of Lee-Davis was at quarterback for the North on this next series and hit Shoye Sampson of John Marshall with a big 31-yard pass on 2nd down and looked his way again but could not connect. Lass rushed for 12 yards on two plays but the North was also called for a false start on alternate plays.

With the ball at the 18, the North faced 4th & 8 and that is when Lass went airborne and connected with the Springers AJ Wells for a touchdown! AJ's second touchdown of the day and although the 2-point conversion failed, the North was back on top leading 18-13 with a little over six minutes to go in the game.

It was the North's defense time to shine next. Taylor Eggers of Trinity Episcopal threw two consecutive incomplete passes and on the very next play, 3rd & 5 after the North was called for encroachment Tremaye Talbert intercepted the pass. Talbert intercepted at the 37 and returned it 63 yards to the house! In a span of four minutes the North had scored two touchdowns and taken a 25-13 lead after TJ's Keegan Vaughan's PAT proved to be good.

The South had a little over 5 minutes to make something happen. From their own 37 Kymon Pope was back in at quarterback. Pope had 4 carries for a total of 30 yards compared to that of going for 1 of 4 passing although the one completion was 18 yards to Coin Harding of Manchester. Pope's last run of 10 yards was not enough for a first down and came on 4th & 14.

When the North got the ball back, there was 3:32 remaining... When they punted there was just 35 seconds! The North put together a time consuming drive that saw Glen Allen's Donovan Riddick at quarterback running back-to-back for 11 yards and a first. Riddick's first pass of this possession fell incomplete, Deep Run's Matt Johnson gained nothing on his carry but did eat time. Zach Lass was in at quarterback for 3rd & 10 and targeted Edward Curtis of Armstrong but the two could not connect.

TJ's Keegan Vaughan punted for the final time of 2018.

SaQuan Harrison of Prince George came in at quarterback for the South with his first pass coming up incomplete and his second complete just to the wrong guy. Tre Akande of Benedictine intercepted the Harrison pass and simply ran out of bounds.

The North got one play off before time expired and the North got their fourth win of the Big River Rivalry, 25-13!

Dinwiddie's Kymon Pope was an obvious choice for MVP on the South squad. Pope finished with 25 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Pope also had 51 yards passing completing 4 of 15 despite 2 interceptions and a sack.

Aside from Pope, Tanner Addams was effective on the ground with 24 yards on 3 carries and a touchdown of his own.

Receiving, your two leading targets were Colin Harding of Manchester with 35 yards on 3 catches and Kadarius Singleton of Hopewell with 2 catches for 23 yards.

As stated, Manny Hickman of Matoaca was a menacing. Hickman had 4 total tackles, 1.5 sacks and 3 of his 4 tackles were for a loss.

Kam Bryant of Cosby had a blocked punt, Xavier Addison of Matoaca had 2 pass disruptions, an interception plus 2 tackles!

Alston Robinson of Manchester and CJ Lynch of Bird combined for 6.5 tackles.

AJ Wells of Highland Springs was MVP for the North after amassing 125 yards receiving and scoring twice on 5 receptions! Shoye Sampson of John Marshall had 49 yards receiving on 2 catches while Tremaye Talbert had 43 yards on 3 receptions.

D'Vonte Waller of Highland Springs and Zach Lass of Lee-Davis proved most effective at quarterback. Waller completed 9 of his 22 passes for 109 yards while throwing a touchdown. Lass was a tad better completing 5 of his 14 attempts, throwing for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns! Waller was intercepted once, Lass was sacked twice!

Not much to speak of in the run game, the leading ball carrier was Glen Allen quarterback Donovan Riddick who had 11 yards on 2 carries.

On defense the Springers Devyn Coles shined with an interception, 4 pass disruptions and 2 tackles!

The leading tacklers for the North were Sam Brooks of Goochland with 4.5 tackles and Michael Brost of Collegiate with 3.5 tackles!

Jaden Rodwell of Varina had the lone sack for the North and Will Shulleeta of Mills Godwin, Tre Akande of Benedictine and Tremaye Talbert of Highland Springs all had picks along with the Springers Devyn Coles.