Timberwolves dominate Panthers
By A.J. Gates
In all likelihood, last Friday night’s 55-16 victory over visiting Iowa-Grant should have secured a playoff bid for coach Wade Winkers and his River Ridge varsity football squad.
Improving to 3-2 in Six Rivers play does not automatically put the Timberwolves into the postseason tournament, but their two non-conference victories over Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg and Fennimore earlier in the year most likely is enough to tip the scales.
While four conference wins are needed to clinch a playoff spot, the Timberwolves have won three straight now after beginning the season with losses to Black Hawk/Warren (5-0, 6-1) and Potosi/Cassville (5-0, 7-0).
“We’ve done our job, and have taken care of teams that we are equal or better than,” said coach Winkers.
“Now we’re looking at how do we close out these last two games and maybe give ourselves a chance at a home game or a higher seed,” he added. “We’ve got to grow every game, and our intensity has to increase as we get closer to the tournament series.”
The Timberwolves will close out the regular season with games against Wauzeka/Seneca (2-3, 3-4) and Pecatonica/Argyle (2-3, 3-4) in the next two weeks.
Against the visiting Panthers last Friday night, the Timberwolves’ offense scored at will, holding leads of 27-0 and 41-0 at the end of the first and second quarters. A third-quarter score extended their lead to 48-0 going into the fourth, where they added their eighth score of the night to take a 55-8 lead.
The option duo of quarterback Brandon Davis and fullback Andrew Nies, combined for 277 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Nies led all rushers with 160 yards and three TDs on only eight carries, giving him an average of 20.0 yards per attempt. He scored on runs of 11, 1 and 70 yards.
Davis rushed for 117 yards and four touchdowns on just seven carries, giving him an average of 16.7 yards per attempt. His touchdowns came from 11, 26, 7 and 65 yards out.
Davis also was incredibly efficient through the air, where he completed 4-of-5 passing attempts for 126 yards, including a 58-yard TD toss to Reese Drew late in the opening quarter.
“We were multi-dimensional with some good runs by our halfbacks outside on our jet plays, but they gave us some looks up front that we really didn’t plan on,” Winkers explained. “Brandon did a real nice job of audibling into some better plays for us, and we were efficient in the pass game. The run game was solid with some explosive plays.”
Four different receivers for River Ridge each had one reception, with Reese Drew leading the way, followed by Carter Copsey with a 47-yard reception, Ty Adrian a 14-yard reception and Drake Barrineau a seven-yard reception.
Defensively, the Timberwolves gave up 57 yards on 17 rushing attempts, while Iowa-Grant quarterback Brock Hinderman completed 17-of-33 passing attempts for 118 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Leading the River Ridge defense with seven tackles and one interception was Davis, while Nies also had seven tackles. Blake Reynolds was in on six stops, while Elliott Thornton had one sack and Brock Bunge an interception.
The Timberwolves will travel to Seneca this Friday night to take on the Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben Bluegolds.
