Riverside’s football team lost just one regular-season game a year ago. Having doubled that total through three games this season, the Pirates are eager to iron out the rough patches as they begin Three Rivers Conference action Friday at Bethel.
The Pirates opened the season with a win over Ansonia, but followed that with losses to Northeastern and Spencerville.
“I have been frustrated by the last two weeks,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge. “It’s my job as the head coach to prepare our team each week to play their best football, and we haven’t accomplished that. We have refocused this week on the basics, the fundamentals, execution, and hopefully not beating ourselves.
“I’ve reminded the team that we need to get back to what has made us pretty good in recent years, focus on us and just get better each and every day. We have had a great week of practice so far, I’m encouraged by our team’s energy and execution this week. They are excited for league play to start. It’s a fresh start. We are not dwelling on the past, worried about tomorrow, we are simply focusing on today, and winning today’s practice. If we can focus on taking care of the little things, the big things tend to take care of themselves.”
The main issue for Riverside is consistency. There have been good stretches of play, but those have been overshadowed by turnovers and miscues.
“We have to get our run game going and stop turning the ball over,” said Hodge. “It’s easy to look at the interceptions and blame those on the quarterback, but most of the picks have been a result of miscommunication, dropped or tipped passes, or a wide receiver falling on the break of the route. “We have fumbled the ball more in the last two games than we typically do for a season. We are not putting our defense in advantageous spots, they constantly are defending a short field, and we have to clean everything up.”
The Pirates are looking to get their problems fixed against a Bethel team that went 1-2 during its non-conference slate. The Bees cruised past National Trail 41- 14 in the season opener. However, they have since suffered lopsided losses to Kenton Ridge (35-3) and Urbana (34-7).
“They are athletic, they have a lot of players, and they have a talented quarterback,” said Hodge of the Bees.
Junior quarterback Cooper Mears has good size at 6-5. In the win over National Trail, Mears was 12-of-14 passing for 194 yards and three TDs.
Senior Christian Bennett has received the most work at running back for Bethel, while junior Landon Cornwell has also been a factor in the Bees’ running attack. Cornwell had 95 yards and a touchdown in the Week 1 win.
Riverside’s biggest focus this week is taking better care of the football. “We need to stop beating ourselves,” said Hodge.
“We need to win the turnover battle, and be the best blocking and tackling team on the field. We have executed very poorly the last two weeks, and it has cost us.”
Elsewhere around the area on Friday:
Indian Lake at Tecumseh
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