Warriors Knock Mt. Juliet from Ranks of the Unbeaten in First Round

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Riverdale Warriors 8-3 (4-2)

Mt. Juliet Golden Bears 10-0 (5-0)


Riverdale traveled to Wilson County Friday night to take on the undefeated Golden Bears. Early in the season Mt. Juliet made state wide news when they didn’t allow a single point for their first six games of the season. They would eventually be scored on, but never come close to losing en route to their first perfect regular season since 2011.

Riverdale, entered the game coming off of a loss to rival, Blackman. But had no hangover from that game as they came out focused from the opening whistle. Mr. 6A Football nominee, Savion Davis, took his first carry to pay dirt from 89 yards out. This run foreshadowed the night that was to come for Davis.

A Bear defense that had only allowed 30 points all season were scratching their heads on how to stop the Warriors’ Davis. He was unstoppable, picking up chunks of yards on every carry. Davis would eventually find himself striding into the end zone yet again. This time from 31 yards out, all while putting his Warriors up 13 to nothing.

Mt. Juliet hung around until the end of the game, tagging on two touchdowns, but the night belonged to Davis. He would score one more touchdown in the fourth, capping off a hat trick while putting an end to any comeback hopes by the Bears. Davis ended his night with 26 carries for 246 yards, while also scoring all of his teams points.

With the win tonight, Warriors’ head coach, Will Kriesky, has now made it to the second round of the playoffs in each of his first two years at the helm. Awaiting them in the second round are region foe, Cookeville Cavaliers. When the two met earlier in the season Cookeville came away the victor by a margin of 30-28 in Murfreesboro. Next Friday’s game will be in Cookeville.

Coach Kriesky after the game…

On making the second round of the playoffs in each of his first two seasons at Riverdale.

“It feels good. Our guys have worked hard all year. We’ve overcome some injuries, and these guys just keep fighting. They’re not going to quit, they’re not going to give up. I’m proud of these guys, I can’t say enough. This game came down to the wire and they never quit and they keep believing in each other. That means something specials brewing. So we’re excited, we know we have a battle next week. They said we play Cookeville, so that’ll be really tough and its’s at Cookeville so it’s going to be a great game.”

On the type of mindset it takes playing an unbeaten team on the road in round one of the playoffs.

“This is an awesome high school atmosphere here tonight. Tonight was unbelievable. But, we’ve been here before, we’ve been battle tested all year long and that’s what I think helped us get through this game tonight.”