INLAND FIELDHOUSE

RIVERSIDE – What impressed me most about the Hillcrest-Norte Vista varsity football game on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, wasn’t so much a “what” as a “who”, and that “who” was Taejon Henderson.

He’s probably the best player in the City of Riverside despite carrying a stigma because he transferred from Riverside Poly to Norte Vista, but Henderson simply is electric with the ball. His ability to hurt defenses has no limit at this point, and his 220-plus total yards and four total touchdowns against Hillcrest are merely a brief slice of his potential in the open field. He’s among the best offensive players in his class and it’s a thrill to catch him before he’s gone.

Ken Batdorf: “WE’ve thrown the ball and we’ve shown that we can throw the ball but we still made a lot of mistakes. We have to clean up a lot of stuff. I want to give Hillcrest credit because they’re tough. They came out with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder, and they played us tough. We came out on top but they’re a good football team and we just have to keep getting better and what we’re doing. We had guys that were open, and we didn’t throw them the ball, and we just have to do things right and clean up the penalties. We committed too many holding penalties. Our kids are really good football players and despite the coaching they’re doing very well. … The stuff that (Henderson) can do you really can’t coach. I’m just glad his mom moved in over here. Welcome to Arlanza! He makes us a really dynamic team and gives us the ability to throw the ball, which is nice.”

Travis Carter: “I don’t think the score board reflects how we battled out there. You know what you get with Norte Vista but it’s a little different this year because they have Henderson who they can put out wide and they have that threat to throw the ball so you can’t really sell all out on stopping the run. You have to be worried about both. It made us adjust our gameplan a little bit. You can’t stop both. They’re a really good football team. Their lines really solid. The kids battled. We have a lot of respect for them over there. They do a great job developing kids and some years they have a better team and some years we have a team that can compete a little better. It’s just the way it swings sometimes but I think going back 6-7 years we’ve had some competitive games. I wish this one was a little more competitive.”

Norte Vista – 7 – 14 – 7 – 14 — 42
Hillcrest – 0 – 7 – 0 – 7 — 14
First quarter
N – Henderson 34 run (Martinez kick), 8:51
Second quarter
N – Allain 5 run (Martinez kick), 5:11
H – Ramos 2 run (Alba-Diaz kick), 1:08
N – Henderson 85 run (Martinez kick), 0:18
Third quarter
N – Henderson 61 pass from Bolender (Martinez kick), 8:54
Fourth quarter
N – Sola 20 run (Martinez kick), 7:19
H – McDowell 16 run (Alba Diaz kick), 5:02
N – Henderson 33 pass from Sola (Martinez kick), 2:02
Team statistics
Total plays – Norte Vista 41; Hillcrest 60.
First downs – Norte Vista 12; Hillcrest 16.
Penalties – Norte Vista 13-110; Hillcrest 4-35.
Turnovers – Norte Vista 2; Hillcrest 1.
Individual statistics
Rushing – Norte Vista: Henderson 4-115, Allain 14-109, Sola 3-47, Garcia 2-24, Costella 2-8, Martinez 1-3; Hillcrest: Vences 21-101, Ramos 8-44, McDowell 1-16, Ross 2-8, Alvarado 4-6.
Passing – Norte Vista: Bolender 8-11-1-88, Sola 1-1-0-33; Hillcrest: Alvarado 5-14-1-38, Ramos 2-2-0-7.
Receiving – Norte Vista: Henderson 3-102, Martinez 4-22, Reyes 1-6, Allain 1-(minus-9); Hillcrest: McDowell 3-25, Shaw 2-14, Phillips 1-9, Vences 1-(minus-4).
Interceptions – Norte Vista: Reyes 1-0; Hillcrest: Ramos 1-0.