Coming off the elation of securing its first win last week at Elmwood Park, the Riverside-Brookfield football team knew facing Nazareth was a tough follow-up game. The Roadrunners rolled past RBHS 41-0 Friday night at Shuey Stadium to clinch a playoff berth.
Early on, the RBHS defense played well causing four first-half turnovers from the Roadrunners.Nazareth only led 7-0 after the opening quarter of play. However, Nazareth quarterback Jonah Beauduy opened the scoring floodgates with three touchdowns in about a 3 ½ minute span. He finished with eight carries for 65 yards.
Conversely, his quarterback counterpart, sophomore Ryan Swift, only managed 32 yards rushing on right carries and completed 9 of 23 passes for 74 yards. Swift was sacked six times as well.
“Defensively, we came out playing well causing multiple turnovers,” RBHS coach Brendan Curtin said. “We couldn’t handle their blitzes and they just wore us down.”
RBHS (1-7, 1-2 Metro Suburban Conference) hosts Fenton on Friday at 7:15 p.m. in the Bulldogs’ regular season finale. Despite a season filled with losses and injuries, the Bulldogs will have a shot to finish .500 in their conference against the Bison.
*Coming in this week’s print edition: Remember to pick this week’s Riverside-Brookfield Landmark as reporter Matt Le Cren goes one-on-one with RBHS football and track star Lewis Rogers for a compelling feature story. Rogers led the Bulldogs to their lone victory this season with a kickoff return for a touchdown and three interceptions against Elmwood Park in Week 7 action.