The Roosevelt Rough Riders avenged an early-season loss to city rival Lincoln and advanced to the Class 11AA semifinals by wearing out the Patriots for a 21-3 win Monday night at Howard Wood Field.
Roosevelt trailed 3-0 at halftime, but sophomore quarterback Taryn Christion came to life after the break, leading the Riders on a pair of long scoring drives to give his team control with a 14-3 lead, then icing the cake with a 45-yard dash with four minutes left to put the game away.
The third-ranked Riders (8-2) had just 85 yards of offense in the first half, but their two scoring drives in the second – 13 plays for 86 yards and 78 yards in 10 plays – wore the Patriots down and energized a Roosevelt defense that bottled up Lincoln after the first quarter.
The No. 5 Pats (7-4) had 104 yards of offense in the first quarter and just 84 the rest of the game.
“They came out and drove on us,” said Rider linebacker/receiver John Wessel, who had six tackles on defense and three catches for 65 yards on offense. “We weren’t attacking enough. In the second half we attacked. It was a great team effort.”
Christion was just 3-for-8 in the first half, but looked like a totally different player in the second, hitting on 9-of-11 to finish the game 12-for-19 for 171 yards with no interceptions. He also rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Christion had struggled in some of the Riders recent games, and he looked timid for much of the first half Monday. So what got into him after half?
“I don’t know – he just played great,” said Riders coach Kim Nelson. “We talked about some things he needed to do different and he did them.
“He was kind of trying to make some big plays early, we talked about throwing it short and just keeping the chains moving and the O-line really played well to help him find a tempo. He was putting the ball on the money.”
Wessel, Lucas Wilber (four catches, 56 yards), Jeremiah Clark and Tanner Hennings also made a few nice catches in traffic, and Christion said that was a big boost.
“The O-line gave me a lot of time and the receivers bailed me out with some nice catches,” he said. “That gave me a lot more confidence, and I’m pretty sure it gave the whole team a lot more confidence.”
Lincoln scored first, taking the opening drive of the game 54 yards and taking a 3-0 lead on Teren Schuster’s 31-yard field goal. When the Pats got the ball back they drove another 50 yards to set up a 30-yard try, but Schuster pushed that one wide right, and the Pats’ scoring was done for the night.
Nelson said holding Lincoln to field goal tries on their two best drives was a huge for his team, and while Wessel agreed, he said it also drove them to be even better.
“It was kind of bend-but-don’t-break, but we don’t want to bend, either,” said Wessel, who gave a verbal commitment to play college football at USD on Sunday. “It was good to hold them to field goals, but we don’t want to give up anything.”
After the first quarter, they pretty much didn’t, and Lincoln coach Aaron Beavers was quick to credit the Riders. Caden Quintanilla rushed for 71 yards returning from an injury, but Connor Burchill was held to 90 yards passing on an 11-for-26 effort.
“They just outplayed us in the second half,” said Beavers, whose team finishes the year 7-4. “Our kids fought, but we had the ball, what (three) plays in the third quarter? And we didn’t get much after that.”
Now the Riders will have a semifinals rematch with Brandon Valley, whom they narrowly escaped last year at Howard Wood. This year, the Riders (8-2) will be challenging an undefeated Lynx team on its home field.