By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
RIVERTON, Kan. — Riverton’s offense accumulated 404 yards, and its defense yielded 103 yards.
But one play generated the most excitement along the sideline and created a buzz in the crowd at Wyatt Laughlin Field in the Rams’ 43-6 victory over Frontenac on Friday night.
The Rams, ahead 14-0 almost five minutes into the second quarter, faced third down-and-5 from the Frontenac 42. Quarterback Kaleb Clark dropped back and found tight end Brad Hefley with a short pass over the middle, and Hefley did the rest.
Hefley, 6-foot-5, 253-pound junior, powered his way over one Frontenac defender and then another about 10 yards later on his way to the end zone.
“The free safety came up and hit him,” said Clark, who ran for one score and completed 3 of 4 passes for 104 yards and two TDs. “I think (Hefley) just lowered his shoulder and ran the kid over, then broke a few more tackles and ran into the end zone.”
Hefley made absolutely no attempt to fake out either defender.
“I know I have a size advantage on some people,” Hefley said. “I’m not a really big juker and jiver. I’m just a rough-nosed, run-right-through-them kind of guy. If they are going to stop me, they’re going to have to earn it.”
“Brad is a big, physical kid,” Rams head coach Cory White said. “He got some momentum going, and he was able to rumble down the field. He’s a relentless competitor, and opponents are going to get his best effort. There’s no question about that.”
Hefley, lining up at fullback, scored the Rams’ first touchdown on a 5-yard run midway through the first quarter.
“I had one touchdown in my high school career, and that was last year,” Hefley said. “Two in one game, that was pretty amazing for me.”
The Rams tallied 29 points in the second quarter to open a 36-0 halftime lead, capped by a last-second strike. Starting from its 43 with 16 seconds on the clock, Clark found Matt Tyree with a 25-yard pass down the left sideline before he was knocked out bounds with 10 seconds left.
An illegal procedure penalty moved the ball back to the 37, but Clark and Tyree hooked up again down the right side for a touchdown.
“Part of our game is to stretch the field, and we thought we had a shot with Tyree over the top,” White said. “We gave it a shot and it worked to our advantage. No way were we trying to run up the score. It was the first half, a game situation, and we may face that later.”
The Rams finished with 300 yards on 54 rushes. Senior running back Brenton Cates led the Rams with 78 yards on 12 carries, and added 90 yards on four punt returns and 56 yards on two kickoff returns.
The Raiders’ Zac Palumbo scored on a 41-yard run with 2:52 left and wound up with 72 yards on six carries.
The Rams sacked quarterback Joe Saia four times, including two by 242-pound senior Aaron Darnaby.
“I thought our defense played really physical,” White said. “I thought they were around the football all night. I thought we were physical up front. Really on both sides of the ball, I thought our lines did a great job of controlling the tempo of the game for us and letting our skill guys get into space and make some plays. That’s the unheralded group for us, but we feel like that is one of the strongest parts of our team, both the offensive and defensive lines.”
“We just couldn’t handle them up front,” Raiders head coach John Palumbo said. “Our kids played hard, it wasn’t that. They just dominated us up front.
“I told the kids this is one game. ... You can’t get too high on the highs. You can’t get too low on the lows. This is a low point. We’re going to roll up our sleeves Monday and go back to work. We will get better.”
Sports
Rams roll over Frontenac
Offense accumulates 404 yards in 43-6 victory
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