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Mitchell Overcomes Mistakes To Defeat River Ridge

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 20, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY – Scott Schmitz didn't sound like a coach that had just won the game.

Despite Mitchell's 16-10 victory against host River Ridge on Friday at the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex, Schmitz has concerns and hopes this week's bye gives him time to correct the Mustangs problems before beginning Class 5A-5 district play Oct. 10.

"I'm going to have to look at it on film but from the sidelines, we missed a lot of blocks in the second half … blocks we were making in the first half," Schmitz said. "We need to find out why that is. We've got our bye week. Maybe we need to go to cross country practice and get ourselves in a little better shape because we didn't come out with the same intensity in the second half."

Behind the running of Ricky Trinidad and Marlow Bradham, the Mustangs (2-1, 2-1 Sunshine Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 16-3 halftime lead. Bradham capped an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 9-yard run with 7:02 remaining in the first half and after River Ridge's Jack Paris connected on a 50-yard field goal, Trinidad scored on a 46-yard run to give Mitchell a 13-3 lead with 2:29 remaining in the half.

The Mustangs recovered the ensuing squib kick on the Royal Knights 16 and three plays later, freshman Cody Folsom kicked a 27-yard field goal.

But things began to fall apart for the Mustangs in the second half. Mitchell took the kickoff and drove to the River Ridge 7 which included Cody Van De Boe's only completed pass of the game – a 9-yarder to Bradham on third-and 7 from the Mitchell 40.

But the Royal Knights defense stood tall and forced Mitchell to attempt a 25-yard field goal, which was wide left.

"I told them I was very upset with about the last 6 minutes of the first half," River Ridge coach Tim Stevens said. "But as mad as I was with them at the first half, I was that much more proud of them in the second half because they didn't lay down and they didn't quit. That's all I ask of my kids is to play hard. That's all I can ask. Give me your 100 percent effort every time out there and we'll let the chips fall where the fall."

The next River Ridge drive changed the entire complexion of the game. River Ridge took over on its own 20 with 2:59 remaining in the third quarter but three plays later, was forced to punt. Mitchell muffed Jack Paris' 44-yard punt and long snapper Bragen Frank recovered the loose ball on the Mustangs' 29.
Six plays later, Stavros Arianas dove over from the 1 to pull the Royal Knights to within 6 points with 10:05 left in the game.

"We've got to make extra points. We've got to make short field goals. And we've got to be able to catch kicks," Schmitz said. "We should have caught [the muffed punt] to begin with but if not, we've got to know to get away from it. We've got to use our heads and that's coaching so we've got to do a little better job of that."

Mitchell went 3-and-out on its next drive and the Royal Knights took over on their own 43 with 7:20 remaining. River Ridge moved down field until quarterback Kenny Toce was tackled in the backfield for a 7-yard loss. Two plays later, Stevens chose to attempt a field goal but Paris missed left on a 39-yard attempt, giving the ball back to Mitchell.

"It was fourth-and-14 and with what we have, we thought that was our best chance," said Stevens, whose Royal Knights lost for the 12th straight time. "We were trying to get the field goal there and then try an onside kick to get the ball back. It we get into third-and-8, we're really not experienced enough to have a high percentage of converting. I didn't want to give it up on fourth-and-14 with something that we're not really good at right now."

River Ridge had two timeouts remaining but when Mustangs quarterback Cody Van de Boe rushed for 12 yards on a third-and 9 from their own 21, Stevens had to use the remaining timeouts and on fourth-and-7, Van de Boe didn't have to take a snap as time expired.

[Van de Boe's] a gutsy kid," Schmitz said. "He may not be the best thrower. He may not be the best runner. But he's a gutsy kid that makes plays and that's why I like him."

Trinidad led the Mustangs with 140 yards on 20 carries. Van de Boe attempted only three passes, completing one for 9 yards.

"We did a good job when we had to," Schmitz said. "I thought we a little better offensively [than last week vs. Zephyrhills] but special teams mistakes … we've got to end those. We had the game under control and we let them get back in it. We can't do that. But on the other hand, they had an opportunity to win it and we didn't allow that to happen."

Trevor Shoun and Arianas combined for 102 yards rushing but Toce only was 2-for-5 for 1 yard passing.

"They're all tough and God bless these kids, they deserve to win games," Stevens said. "They have worked harder than any group I've ever been around. It's just unfortunate. We have a tough schedule and we're playing good teams. We're battling our guts out. The other teams are just better right now. It's not from lack of effort."

River Ridge (0-3, 0-3 SAC) has lost 12 in a row and 35 of their last 36. The Royal Knights open 4A-8 play Friday at Tarpon Springs. Mitchell's next game is Oct. 3 at home vs. Hudson.

R - FG Paris 50

M - Trinidad 46 run (Folsom kick)

M - FG Folsom 27

R - Arianas 1 run (Paris kick)

Correspondent Rick Harmon can be reached at tampabaystringer@gmail.com

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