photo by: Kim North

River running back Trey Larrick (3) runs away from Shadyside’s Colton Wallace (21) as teammate Jayden Jones (75) looks for a block during Friday night’s game at Fleming Field in Tigertown. The Pilots cruised to a 37-0 victory over the Tigers.

SHADYSIDE – River played some old-fashioned ‘smash mouth’ football Friday night.

The Pilots (5-2) had 54 offensive snaps and all of them resulted in handoffs as they rushed for 308 yards and five touchdowns in blanking homestanding Shadyside (2-5) by a 37-0 count on the artificial surface at Fleming Field.

“I don’t think I’ve ever coached a game where we didn’t throw a pass,” veteran River head coach Mike Flannery said. “We’re okay on defense, but it’s even better when we control the ball like that.”

Carter Piatt, Wyatt Jones, Cooper Roberts, Michael Schultheis, Jayden Jones and Aiden Milhoan controlled the offensive front, allowing the running backs to pick up huge chunks of yardage on nearly every carry.

“We won this game where it counted and that was in the trenches,” Flannery praised. “Our offensive line did a great job tonight. They don’t get much credit, but they deserve it tonight.”

Junior Trey Larrick bulled his way to 118 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries to lead the ground attack. Classmate Wyatt Stalder added 100 and two TDs on 16 attempts. Braden Johnson found the end zone and picked up 51 yards on 13 totes.

“That was a good old-fashioned butt kicking,” Shadyside head coach Mike Kernik pointed out. “They took it to us and they were much more physical than us. We had no answers for them. They stayed in the (wish)bone and pounded the ball right at us. They pushed all over the field. Give them credit. That was a great game by them.”

River won the coin toss and took the ball to start the game. Nine plays, 62 yards and a little more than four minutes later, Stalder went 20 yards on a counter left and Carson Jones’ PAT made it 7-0.

On the Tigers second offensive play, the snap from center was bad and Roberts fell on in at the Shadyside 33. Two plays later, Larrick broke a couple would-be tackles at the line before bouncing out to his left. He outran everyone into the promised land for a 26-yard score. Carson Jones made it 14-0.

“That was a huge momentum swing,” Flannery pointed out.

The Tigers fumbled again on their next possession with Jayden Jones falling on it at River 40.

Sticking to its potent ground attack, River went 60 yards on 10 plays, using 4:24 as Larrick scored from 5 yards out. Carson Jones upped the count to 21-0 with 10:37 left in the first half.

Neither team would score until River got the ball at its own 30 with 10:12 on the third-quarter clock. Fifteen runs later, Stalder scooted in from 4 yards out to cap the 7-minute march that included a pair of successful third-and-shorts and a fourth-and-2 to up the count to 28-0.

A 4-yard scamper by Johnson and Carson Jones’ fifth placement ran the margin to 35-0.

“Defensively, (assistant) coach Mark Romick did a good job of getting the guys in the right places,” Flannery added. “The defense played really well.”

The River defense got into the scoring when it sacked Jayden Johnson in the end zone for a safety that capped the scorefest.

“We’ve just got to keep fighting through adversity and working hard,” Kernik said. “We can give into it (adversity). We’ve got to keep fighting and working hard.”

The Tigers had minus 32 yards rushing on 25 carries as River’s front four kept coming and coming. The hosts did complete eight passes for 88 yards as Johnson was 7 of 12 for 86 and an interception. The Pilots moved the first-down sticks 18 times to a mere three for the Tigers.

River heads to Sarahsville to meet Shenandoah next Friday, while Shadyside welcomes Caldwell to Belmont County.