Prep Impressions: Week 7-B
I covered the Riverside King-Riverside Poly varsity football game for The Press-Enterprise on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, and came away thinking that King football is taking some serious lumps.
How can a team this bad (7.9 ppg, 6.3 ypp) not be one of those relegated to the Inland Valley League next season?
You see, re-alignment is set to take place next seasons, and Riverside Poly — not Riverside King — is to take a step down in divisions and leagues in 2012. The Bears, and not the Wolves, will move from the Inland Division to the Central Division, and from the Big VIII League to the Inland Valley League.
Now where’s the sense in that considering Poly (3-4 overall, 1-3 Big VIII) just laid a 40-10 smackdown upon King (0-7, 0-4)? I’m not seeing it.
King sophomore QB Brett Hollingsworth (pictured, 6-foot-3, 185 pounds) has the physical tools. He lacks consistency, focus and intensity.
Senior WR/DB Aaron Hickman (5-11, 160) and senior WR/DB Justyn Peeples have been good soldiers for King, and have had the fortune to play on some pretty good teams in their varsity careers. Clearly, this is not one of them.
Junior RB Milan Brass (5-9, 175) showed he may be able to carry the load next season. He ran for 107 yards on 13 carries, including the Wolves’ only touchdown, an 81-yard run in the third quarter.
Riverside King coach Kevin Corridan:
“I just think we’re a young group of kids and we keep getting better every week. I think we stayed kinda even instead of taking a step forward like I know were capable of. We had some good moments there, and were able to move the ball, but they did a heck of a job up front defensively, and really, really got after us. It’s pretty tough to run the ball effectively, down-in and down-out, when they’re loading the box and really pressing their ears back, knocking us back. It’s the last game we’ll play because we’re splitting leagues. We’re staying with the Corona league, they’re going to the Inland Valley League. The biggest thing is for our young kids. We’ve got 9 of 11 underclassmen starting on offense. We just got keep building, working forward, and as long as we keep working forward and trying to win the next day and the next play, we’re gonna be fine.”
Riverside Poly coach Jeff Huerta:
“It’s always exciting against King. It was double exciting for us because it’s homecoming, and King, and we’re not playing them any more. This is our last game against them so we’ve been preaching all week long, ‘Let’s give them some lasting memories.’ Heh. Heh. I was glad to see our kids pick it up and finish the deal. We gotta keep building. This is our best offensive performance, our defense played really good… We got Norco next week, and just build on it.”
Riverside Poly senior Steven Hamm:
“This is my senior year, my last homecoming, the last time this school, for now, is going to play King so I knew we needed to win. Even though the score shows something different, we still have a lot of mistakes we need to take care of. I need to take care of the ball better, and I need to make better reads as a quarterback. I know that. Not just throw it away or try to force something. Our game plan was we knew we were going to have to run the ball a lot ’cause they have a pretty good secondary. Our game plan was just run the ball, and we knew our guys were gonna get tired… we have very good depth in our running backs, and we have trust in them… and then there’s me, who can always pull the ball.”
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 