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Riverview 31, Plant City 0

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2007

RIVERVIEW - Riverview's season-opening loss had lingered with the team for two weeks because of a bye in Week 2, but when the Sharks finally took the field again Friday night, it took them just more than two minutes to put that bad memory to bed.

Plant City fumbled on its first play from scrimmage and Riverview turned it into touchdown 2:25 into the game, paving the way for the Sharks' 31-0 rout of the visiting Raiders at J. Vince Thompson Stadium.

Standout senior tailback Jahleel Addae scored three rushing touchdowns, and the Sharks defense turned in a dominating performance by forcing four turnovers and limiting Plant City to 135 yards of total offense to help erase the heartbreaking loss at the hands of rival East Bay in Week 1 by securing the team's first victory of 2007.

'There was a big sour taste in our mouth,' Addae said. 'We had to sit on that for two weeks, and we came out here ready to execute and that's what we did.'

It certainly didn't take Riverivew (1-1) long to get things going. Five plays after the Raiders' fumbled on its first play, Addae rumbled into the end zone for his first score of the night, a 4-yard run that gave the Sharks a 7-0 lead. And things only got better for the Sharks from then on.

The Raiders (2-1) fumbled again on their next series, and Riverview capitalized again with receiver Orson Charles producing a highlight reel catch by going airborne to haul in an Alex O'Regan pass in the back of the end zone.

Riverview scored on four of its five first-half possessions, adding a 7-yard scoring run from Addae and a 25-yard field goal by Kyle Wolfman as time expired, and took a 24-0 lead into the break.

Plant City was short-handed with both starting running backs, Keith Dawson and Sirchauncey Holloway, unavailable due to injuries. Cortez Hargrett did his best as a fill-in at tailback, rushing for 90 yards on 28 carries, but an ineffective passing game kept Plant City from making up any of the early deficit.

'We were real thin. We had wideouts playing running back Friday, and we had our third and fourth receivers starting at wideout. We're limited in what we can do,' Plant City coach Kevin Kelley said. 'Our defense played pretty well. We had four turnovers on offense and we spot them 14 points. ... We spotted them a big lead early, and, you know, we never could catch up.'

Now, the Sharks go into a Week 4 showdown at Plant with some confidence, something the team desperately needed after their loss to East Bay in the season-opener.

'We did need this game,' said Addae, who finished with a team-high 78 yards on 17 carries. 'Confidence is a big thing in high school football, and we needed some especially after that hard loss we took against our rival two weeks ago.'

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