JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After Raines registered another running-clock victory Friday night, Donovan Masline, the Vikings coach, delivered a rather succinct message: Clean things up now.
Most coaches would be thrilled with a 49-0 road victory over a rival such as Riverside. But Masline is playing the long game, with an eye toward November and December, when the playoffs are in full swing and the state title game is played.
There were portions of the team’s effort in the Varsity 4 Game of the Week that didn’t pass muster with Masline.
“Discipline. Because down the road, that’s going to hurt us,” Masline said after his team was flagged 14 times for 155 yards. “That’s going to hurt us in November. We can’t give them yards. A couple of times, we had 30 yards to get a first down, and we can’t put ourselves in that situation. In the playoffs, every down, every yard, is crucial.”
Aside from that, Raines (4-0) looked every bit the top team in the Varsity 4 Super 10 poll, every bit the team that has triggered a running clock in nine of its past 13 games, including the first three rounds of the last season’s playoffs.
The offense scored every time it had the ball, while the defense held Riverside (1-5) to minus-31 rushing yards and scored twice, with nose tackle Geterius Brown taking the ball after a strip-sack by Cam Washington and rumbling 51 yards for a 14-0 lead.
“I saw the ball and picked it up and saw nothing but green grass,” said Brown, who said that was his first touchdown at the varsity level. “It definitely set the tone, kept the momentum. Coach told us he wanted the defense to score points, and that’s exactly what we gave him.”
Shareef Jackson then put a cap on the night with the final score, as the safety read a pass perfectly, jumped the route for the interception and raced 35 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The offense was on point as well. Five possessions, five touchdowns. Quarterback TJ Cole had only one incompletion in 11 attempts, rolling up 192 passing yards while twice hitting Ethan Sherman with touchdown passes, those from 18 and 40 yards.
Ta’darius Washington added 55 rushing yards and two scores, while Tisean Haynes tacked on 45 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The Vikings were so efficient that they did all this while running only 29 plays during the course of the game. They faced third down only twice, converting both, including one to start the second half, getting a first down on a 3rd-and-21.
But that is part of what had Masline irritated after the game. The team opened the second half with holding calls on four of its first five plays, wiping a long touchdown pass off the board. He doesn’t want to see 2nd-and-33 in the postseason.
There were also five 15-yard penalties, a few of those coming post-touchdown. Bad kickoff position from those penalties, coupled with excellent kick returns by Ja’Qillie Hobdy and Jamarcus Giscombe, allowed the Generals good starting field position most of the night, beginning four possessions at the 45-yard line or better, including one drive that began at the Raines 26.
“After a score, we have to stay locked in,” Masline said. “I know the kids are excited, but we’ve got to make sure we stay clean. I want them to have fun, but they have to know when to cut it off.”
The trouble was, Riverside could not move the ball when it was facing a third or fourth down. The Generals converted only one of nine 3rd-down attempts, and that came when the Vikings were offsides.
The Generals also converted only one of four 4th-down tries, ending the first half on a fourth-down play when Stephen Davis picked off a pass in the end zone.
Penalties, running plays stuffed at the line of scrimmage and four sacks helped stall any drives.
“We would get into situations with false starts and different things, and those put us behind the chains,” Riverside coach Antwan Nicholas said. “They definitely did some good things blitzing and mixing it up. They did some good calls defensively.”
The game encompassed the Generals’ roller-coaster season. Their four losses entering Friday were by a combined 25 points to area powers such as Oakleaf, Fleming Island and St. Augustine. On the other hand, they lost to Orange Park and eked out a one-point victory against Ribault.
“We’ve just got to regroup and get it together for next week,” Nicholas said. “Every week, we focus on one week at a time, improvement. It’s hard to beat other people when you beat yourself.”
That touches on Masline’s fears. He doesn’t want to see his team beat themselves in November. But of course, the way the Vikings are playing, it’s going to be tough to score on them and tough to keep them out of the end zone.
Despite the tough love after the game, Masline was proud of his team. They were ruthless and efficient on offense and choked off Riverside when on defense.
“I challenged the defense after they gave up (42) points to this team last year,” Masline said. “So we wanted to make sure we stayed on them on the bye week, stayed tough on them. They came out and executed at a high level, and I’m very proud of them.”
(2) Raines 49, Riverside 0
Raines, 14, 14, 7, 14 — 49
Riverside, 0, 0, 0, 0 — 0
Ra – Ta’darius Washington 8 run (Dan Duong kick)
Ra – Geterius Brown 51 fumble return (Duong kick)
Ra – Eric Sherman 18 pass from TJ Cole (Duong kick)
Ra – Tisean Haynes 15 run (Duong kick)
Ra – Sherman 40 pass from Cole (Duong kick)
Ra – Washington 21 run (Duong kick)
Ra – Shareef Jackson 35 INT return (Duong kick)
Category: Ra — Ri
First downs: 13 — 8
Rushes-yards: 18-194 — 13-(-31)
Passing: 192 — 151
Comp-Att-Int: 10-11-0 — 17-27-2
Fumbles-lost: 0-0 — 2-1
Penalties-Yards: 14-155 — 7-53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Ra: Washington 9-55, Cole 5-54, Haynes 3-45, Kelvin Brown 1-40. Ri: Arthur Mitchell 2-1, Keflin Bryant 3-(-2), Team 1-(-11), Jaiden Delaune 7-(-19).
PASSING — Ra: Cole 10-11-0-192. Ri: Delaune 17-27-2-151.
RECEIVING — Ra: Sherman 3-84, Zion Green 1-44, Brown 1-23, Ziyon Butler 3-21, Quincy Matthews 2-20. Ri: Derrick Bridges 6-70, Zion Hicks 2-41, Demetrice Hugger 5-30, Darayl Gathers 2-4, Jamarcus Giscombe 1-3, Christopher Martin 1-3.