Prep Impressions: April 2, 2021
RIVERSIDE — The Riverside Hillcrest-Riverside Norte Vista Week 3-A varsity football game on Friday, April 2, 2021, did not start the way anyone expected.
For Hillcrest, getting the ball twice from Norte Vista in the first quarter was the Immaculate Start. The Trojans couldn’t do anything with their first possession but found a way to break out on their second – with Camren Payne lofting one 30-plus yards up the left hash for Shane Shiel – and the team’s confidence just built from there. But then crazy stuff was being said on the sideline, and in the stands, too, so the coaches may want to watch out for that.
Hillcrest coach Travis Carter said, “This was huge for the kids and our senior class. A lot of these players were a part of the team when we beat Norte Vista two years ago, and I give that class all the credit. They stuck together, they battled, they held each other accountable, they showed leadership (and) tonight they showed heart, they showed grit against a really, really tough Norte Vista team. This is one of the best Norte Vista teams we’ve seen since I’ve been year, so I can’t say enough about how proud of our guys we are. We fought, we battled, we had guys get hurt, we had guys step up and hats off to Coach Batdorf and Norte Vista; it was a fantastic game. I’m proud of our guys and proud that our seniors get to have this moment.”
For Norte Vista, mishandling the snap on its first two plays was not only disastrous but a sign of things to come. The Braves were clearly not in sync, and it showed throughout the opening 24 minutes. Their six possessions of the first half – fumble-fumble-turnover on downs-punt-INT-end of half – might be the worst of the Ken Batdorf era. In fact, it wasn’t until the third quarter when Norte Vista finally put together a scoring drive and made a game of it. But then penalties reared their ugly head in the fourth quarter – two personal fouls and a holding call – to help land the decisive blow.
Norte Vista coach Ken Batdorf said, “The first quarter (and) the first half was about as bad as we can play. It was awful. I don’t get it. There’s no excuses. Second half we started to get it going and we played much better, but we should have played like that the whole game. They’re a good football team and when you make as many mistakes as we did you’re going to lose. There were so many missed calls, and when I’d call a play and a set it was done wrong. The turnovers… you just can’t win when you do that. And I’d love to play them again, but you don’t get that opportunity. It’s done.”
BOX SCORE
Hillcrest – 15 – 0 – 7 – 7 — 29
Norte Vista – 0 – 0 – 7 – 14 — 21
First quarter
H – Shiel 31 pass from Payne (DeAnda kick), 7:35
H – Robert 5 run (Banks pass from Payne), 3:11
Second quarter
No scoring
Third quarter
H – Robert 12 pass from Payne (pass failed), 7:31
N – Allain 3 run (A.Rodriguez kick), 2:29
Fourth quarter
N – Allain 43 pass from D.Garcia (A.Rodriguez kick), 10:01
H – Minnieweather 5 run (Robert pass from Payne), 7:07
N – Allain 2 run (A.Rodriguez kick), 3:12
Team statistics
Total plays – Hillcrest: 53; Norte Vista: 57.
First downs – Hillcrest: 13; Norte Vista: 13.
Penalties – Hillcrest: 9-70; Norte Vista 8-71.
Individual statistics
Rushing – Hillcrest: Robert 12-53, Banks 3-20, Minnieweather 3-17, Payne 10-4; Norte Vista: J.Gonzalez 11-67, Carvajal 12-58, Allain 20-56, Garcia 8-5.
Passing – Hillcrest: Payne 19-26-0-175; Norte Vista: Garcia 2-3-1-46; Allain 1-1-0-33.
Receiving – Hillcrest: Shiel 5-68, Robert 7-53, Banks 3-29, Hutton 1-16, Minnieweather 2-6, Bishop 1-3; Norte Vista: Allain 2-46, Gaines 1-33.
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 