Spartan football shut out by Riverside in season opener
PRIEST RIVER — Riverside shut out Priest River football 41-0 in the Spartans’ season opener on Sept. 6.
“Our young team ran in to a much bigger, more experienced team,” First-year Priest River football head coach Jared Hughes said in an email afterwards. “Riverside is loaded and ready to make a run at Newport and Colville this year.”
The Rams jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter behind a pair of scores from Jaxton Betker and quarterback Parker Gallinger and didn’t look back.
The younger, less-experienced Priest River team had a difficult time containing Riverside running back Sammy DesRoches, who earned high praise from Hughes after the game.
“DesRoches is the real deal,” Hughes said. “He only scored one touchdown, but had about 80% of their all-purpose yards for the game.”
Priest River’s run-first offense managed 67 yards against the Rams defense. The upperclassmen tandem of junior Coby Rogers and senior Teagun Holycross led the Spartans with 27 and 19 rushing yards, respectively.
Senior quarterback Caden Brennan finished 0-7 with an interception.
“Mistakes were not due to lack of effort, just lack of varsity play time experience,” Hughes said. “After watching the film, I saw many mistakes with our alignment, assignment and execution that can be fixed.”
On defense, Rogers also led the team with 10.5 tackles; senior defensive lineman Cole Thompson was close behind with seven.
The Spartans also picked off Dillinger twice, but both turnovers were wiped away by pass interference penalties.
“We will need to clean them up by next game,” Hughes said. “The coaches and players are looking forward to practice Monday to fix our mistakes and get ready for Newport.”
Priest River (0-1) will look for its first win of the season at home against Newport tomorrow. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
“Newport is a really good team again this year,” Hughes said. “We hope to get better this week and give them a run for their money. We won’t grow four inches taller or gain 30 pounds by Thursday, but we can work hard and get a ton better for next week.”
Riverside 14 14 13 0 — 41
Priest River 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring summary
First quarter
R’side — Jaxton Betker 6 pass from Parker Gallinger (Jack Ewart kick)
R’side — Jaxton Betker 9 pass from Parker Gallinger (Jack Ewart kick)
Second quarter
R’side — unknown 25 run (Zach Hensley kick)
R’side — Sammy DesRoches 4 run (Zach Hensley kick)
Third quarter
R’side — Jack Ewart 17 fumble recovery (Zach Hensley kick)
R’side — unknown 2 run (PAT failed)
Individual stats
PASSING: PR — Caden Brennan, 0-7-1-0. R’side — Parker Gallagher, 4-8-0-73
RUSHING: PR — Coby Rogers, 10-27. Teagun Holycross, 3-19. Caden Brennan, 13-14. Rees O’Brien, 5-6. Deegan Goins, 1-1. R’side — Team, 29-237
RECEIVING: R’side — Team, 4-73