INLAND FIELDHOUSE

PHOTO by INLANDFIELDHOUSE.com

RIVERSIDE — The Riverside Norte Vista-Riverside Hillcrest Week 7 varsity football game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, was undecided until 22 seconds left in the game.

For Norte Vista, efficiency is judged in 2- to 3-yard chunks and the offense didn’t disappoint, totaling 226 rushing yards in the win. Sophomore RB Eddie Allain was able to cap three drives with rushing TDs, and seems to have made a mid-season adjustment that is working for him. He opened the season with 247 yards and two TDs, but followed with three consecutive performances in which he totaled less than 210 yards before exploding for seven TDs and nearly 450 yards during his last three games. He reminds us of Norte Vista alum Fred Holly, Jr.

Norte Vista head coach Ken Batdorf, “We didn’t execute as well as we should have, but neither did they, and I’m going to give a lot of credit to Hillcrest. I think they’re coaching staff did a phenomenal job and their kids played hard. We’re telling our kids, ‘This is for the league title.’ And we still have three games but we’re 2-and-0 and we’re in the driver’s seat, and nobody else is 2-and-0. We just have to go out there and play well and keep it up. We have to fix our mistakes. Our pad level wasn’t very good and there were little errors, but I can’t say enough about Christian (Jurado) and those interceptions, and Eddie (Allain) really did run hard, and he’s been running harder the last few weeks. He’s getting stronger, and we’re talking about reading the holes. Sometimes he’s hitting the hole so fast he can’t see it, so we have to slow him down because he is so fast. So he did a really good job. And you know, we’re going to get better. We have some time to work on it, and hopefully we do get better. Eddie is an emotional player, but I think the first thing is we play the other backs. We have some really good backs, and by playing them it keeps him hungry. We always want him hungry. He wants the ball and we want him as hungry as possible.”

For Hillcrest, the injury to junior QB Camren Payne on the game’s final drive was not the way this game was meant to end. He had done such a good job of keeping the Trojans in the game that it should’ve been his to win or lose, but an unlucky 13-yard gain across midfield for a 1st down also resulted in the RVL first-team selection staying down after the play. He eventually needed help to get on to one leg, and hobbled off the field with two teammates under his arms and what looked like a lower right leg issue.

Hillcrest coach Travis Carter said, “They’re still evaluating so we don’t know his condition. Any time you lose a player like Camren on your last drive you don’t want that. He played a good game. He battled. He fought. Proud of the way he played. Proud of the way all our kids played. The defense; I thought we played well enough to win the football game. We picked it up at time offensively (but) we just didn’t make enough plays to win. That’s one me as a coach. We have to do a better job preparing and getting ready, but I’m really proud of the way our guys played and obviously, this type of game hurts when you don’t come out at the end there. We missed opportunities early and it was a battle. It was going back-and-forth and could’ve been anyone’s game but they made the plays there at the end and we didn’t, and that’s on me. We didn’t have any time outs so we weren’t trying to end up in the middle of the field and have the clock run out. (Norte Vista) was playing off and trying to keep in in front, and we were moving the ball a little bit and we were one play away and we didn’t make it and they did so hat’s off to them. That’s a good football team over there. We’re going to learn from this and improve. This is a huge a game and there was a lot of buildup to it but that’s life. Events happen like this, major events, and sometimes outcomes aren’t what you want them to be and you got to move on. It’s going to be huge as far as how we react as a staff and with our players, how we come together from this and move on to the next week. Season goes on, life goes on, and we can’t dwell on this. We’ve got to continue to get better each and every week.”

BOX SCORE
Norte Vista – 3 – 9 – 8 – 7 — 27
Hillcrest – 0 – 7 – 6 – 7 — 20
First quarter
N – Salcedo 37 FG, 7:34
Second quarter
N – Allain 2 run (kick failed), 11:55
H – Perez 8 pass from Payne (Deanda kick), 0:46
N – Salcedo 34 FG, 0:00
Third quarter
H – Robert 55 run (kick failed), 11:39
N – Allain 1 run (Gonzales run), 0:17
Fourth quarter
H – Robert 11 pass from Payne (Deanda kick), 9:23
N – Allain 5 run (Salcedo kick), 2:30
Individual statistics
Rushing – Norte Vista: Allain 38-185, Carvajal 7-22, Gonzalez 4-16, Gonzales 4-4, Luckey 8-1; Hillcrest: Robert 14-118, Payne 6-18, Correa 1-3, Rivera 1-(minus-8).
Passing – Norte Vista: Gonzales 1-4-0-12; Hillcrest: Payne 14-27-2-185, Rivera 0-1-0-0.
Receiving – Norte Vista: Wilson 1-12; Hillcrest: Perez 3-82, Banks 4-38, Mokwala 1-22, Robert 3-20, Howard 2-15, Dominguez 1-8.
Penalties – Norte Vista: 6-50; Hillcrest: 5-50.