INLAND FIELDHOUSE

PHOTO by TERRY PIERSON

RIVERSIDE — The Riverside Poly-Riverside Ramona Week 4 varsity football game on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019, showed how seemingly one-sided rivalries can turn over time.

For Riverside Poly, a slow start didn’t do its defense any favors. The Bears defense, to its credit, has been the strength of the team in 2019 and gave the team a chance to win in the second half when they should not have had any chance at all. It’s a solid group that plays hard and together. John Rice in Mike Stauffer are doing good things on that side and it’s showing. The offensive has changed dramatically, but it relies on the playmaking of senior QB Budd Bernie, and, well …

Riverside Poly head coach John Rice, “That was a tale of two games. They gained just 31 yards (sic) in the second half but you don’t get rewards for that. WE didn’t come out ready to play. They did a really good job. You have to give them credit. They came out ready and we were not, and by the time we recovered – we stopped them seven or eight times in a row – but that’s not enough. You cannot play three quarters of a game, so I give them all the credit in the world. We have to get better. There’s not excuses for losing. I have to give them credit. I’m not going to make an excuse.”

For Riverside Ramona, the running game looks good and junior QB Diego Muniz is a revelation for the Rams. The kid can run and pass and he’s only going to get better so long as he can be protected. Muniz already shows the decision-making ability of a veteran, and has the arm to complete any pass the offense asks of him. He also shows a willingness to tuck his head a get those tough yards on second and third down, but needs to work on his stamina in order to keep it going for four quarter and finish strong.

Ramona head coach Ken Mushinskie said, “We talked about taking it to them right out of the get-go, both offensively and defensively, and I think we did it. Defense had just one mistake, gave up a score, but the offensive put three (touchdowns) up and we had that great Pick-6. We missed a couple of opportunities when it was 4th-and-short, but it was just missed blocks, and Poly’s defense played well. In the first half they played good, in the second half they played outstanding. Their defensive ends confused us a little bit and their backers came and played home. We missed a few key blocks, and their safety was all over the place. He was making plays in our backfield. We got to clean up those mistakes. We have a bye week but then we have to play Norte Vista. We know what they do. They know what we do. It’s the beginning of River Valley League play and it’s going to be a great River Valley League. There’s a lot of good teams, so we’re really looking forward to having Week 5 off. Tonight we’re going to celebrate 5-and-0 and that we beat our cross-town rival.”

BOX SCORE
Riverside Poly – 6 – 0 – 6 – 6 — 18
Ramona – 13 – 15 – 0 – 0 — 28
First quarter
R – Roby runs 18 run (Villa kick), 9:34
P – Harrel 1 run (kick failed), 6:02
R – Roby 2 run (kick failed), 1:55
Second quarter
R – Monje 26 pass from Muniz (Alvarenga run), 9:35
R – Sanders 38 int. return (Villa kick), 1:25
Third quarter
P – Harrel 1 run (run failed), 3:04
Fourth quarter
P – Bernie 24 run (pass failed), 11:22
Individual statistics
Rushing – Riverside Poly: Harrel 12-93, Bernie 18-37; Ramona: Alvarenga 14-85, Roby 15-71, Muniz 11-24.
Passing – Riverside Poly: Bernie 15-31-2-197; Ramona: Muniz 7-11-0-69.
Receiving – Riverside Poly: Lamontage 9-144, Brown 2-32, Ma 2-11, Tijerina 2-11; Ramona: Cornejo 2-29, Monje 2-27, Roby 3-13.
Penalties – Riverside Poly: 9-115; Ramona: 7-70.