By Brad Greer
As the River Oaks football team loaded onto a pair of yellow
school buses for the long four-hour trek back to Monroe, La. the thoughts of
what green freight train had hit them some two hours earlier must went through
their minds.
Unlike last year's 29-27 victory by the Mustangs over North Delta,
Friday night's MAIS North AA semi-final contest was basically over before it
got started as the host Green Wave scored on all six possessions in the first
half on their way to a 41-7 thrashing of River Oaks to advance to the North
State championship game where they will host district foe Marshall in a 7 p.m.
kickoff.
Marshall punched their ticket to its second straight North State
title game with a 20-15 win over Indianola in the other semi-final round
matchup.
How dominant was North Delta's performance? Consider the fact
River Oaks crossed midfield only four times during the game, one of which came
as the Mustangs recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff at the Green Wave
40-yard line. North Delta out gained River Oaks 295-87 in total yardage in the
first half and punted only twice the entire co.
The outcome of the victory surprised even one Green Wave player.
"We knew River Oaks had a good ball team so we were preparing
for a battle out there but we did not think it would be this easy. We have been
practicing hard all week and it paid off tonight," said senior linebacker
Will Magee." Just like last week, the defense set the tone early and
forced some turnovers that set up our offense in good field position. Everybody
wants to be playing their best football of the year and I feel like we have hit
our stride as a team and if we come out and play ball the way we have the past
two weeks, we are going to be tough to beat," said Magee, who registered
three tackles including a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the same play.
After holding River Oaks to three-and-out on the opening
possession, the Green Wave offensive unit went to work as Austin Hagstrom
capped off a five-play; 51-yard drive with a six-yard scoring run to give North
Delta a 7-0 lead as William Dean added the point after.
Things went downhill from for River Oaks as Alex Biedenharn
coughed up the following kickoff at the Mustang 17-yard line. North Delta took
advantage of the mistake as Tyler Pirtle scored the first of his two rushing
touchdowns on a seven-yard run for a 14-0 Green Wave lead following Dean's
successful PAT.
Pirtle (Photo right), who 175-yard rushing performance pushed the senior
quarterback over the 1,000 yard barrier for the second straight year, made the
score 21-0 on the next series with an 84-yard scamper.
North Delta (10-2) poured it on in the second quarter by scoring
three more touchdowns to take a 41-0 into the locker room. Hagstrom added his
second touchdown run of the night with a four-yard run to cap off a 85-yard
drive that took 3:30 off the clock. Taylor Morris' 50-yard sprint to the
Mustang 20 keyed the series.
Following Brett Herrington's fumble recovery at the Mustang 29,
the Green Wave drove to the five-yard line where Pirtle hit Chase Coker on a
quick slant pattern a touchdown. A botched hold on the point after resulted in
a failed attempt leaving the score 34-0 with 5:01 remaining in the half.
Morris put the finishing touches on the game with a 10-yard
scamper with 58 seconds left in the half. Morris ended the night with 75 yards
on eight carries. River Oaks threatened to put their first points on the board
in the closing seconds of the first half by driving to the Green Wave 15 only
to have Dean break up a pass in the end zone.
The Mustangs avoided the shutout with 2:46 left in the game as
Brendan MacGregor connected with Trace Houston on a two-yard touchdown pass
with Jordan Sutton tacking on the PAT.
"First of all I want to give credit to their coaching staff,
they do a fine job and they have got some fine football players," said
North Delta head coach Brandon Ciaramitaro. "But when a team has a chip on
their shoulders like our guys did and they are relentless and have a will to
win in the worse way it’s easy for a coaching staff to get guys ready to play. Our
guys are doing that and that is where we need to be," said Ciaramitaro.
North Delta rolled up 405 of total offense while holding River
Oaks to 195 yards. The Green Wave chewed up 305 rushing on the night as
Hagstrom followed Pirtle and Morris with nine carries for 32 yards but led the
Wave in receiving with three catches for 61 yards. Coker also reeled in three
receptions for 31 yards while Sam Copeland had one catch for 11 yards. Pirtle
ended the night with 7-of-10 passing for 103 yards.
Baker West chipped in with three carries for 14 yards while Bailey
Sullivant had two carries for two yards.
Bradley Booth and Dean led the North Delta defensive charge with
five tackles each. Booth also recorded a fumble recovery and a quarterback
sack. Hunter Pitcher added four tackles while Magee and Parker Jones
contributed with three stops.
Biedenharn led River Oaks in rushing with 111 yards on 19 carries.
