Rancocas Valley’s impressive run continues as they win three consecutive home games, and two straight on the road ahead of their uphill homecoming battle against St. Augustine.
After suffering a double-digit loss to Pascack Valley at Battle at the Beach in their season opener, the Red Devils returned with a chip on their shoulder ahead of their 3-game homestand. That redemption hunger was evident, as the Red Devils scored in the first play of the game on a handoff to Senior RB Devin Duana who ran 59 yards into the endzone. That play set the tone for the rest of the quarter and the remainder of the game.
Shortly after forcing a Pleasantville punt, RV scored once again as the “South Jersey Gridiron Gang Player of the Week” Sayvien Adams rushed 19 yards for his first of four total touchdowns. In the very next play, as RV kicked the ball off to Pleasantville, the defense collapsed and allowed a 95-yard run into the endzone as well as a 2-point conversion to cut the lead to just 7 points. Unfortunately, this has been common for the Red Devils defense throughout the past three games. Though they don’t consistently let up kickoff return touchdowns, they have struggled to put together lengthy stretches of great run defense, which will need to be cleaned up when facing teams like Camden and St. Augustine. Despite the defensive lapse, it marked the last time throughout the game that Pleasantville would be within one possession. Towards the end of the first, Senior RB Montre Wilson rushed about 10 yards into the endzone to give RV a 23-8 lead to head into the second quarter.
The game was never up for grabs from that moment on, despite going scoreless in the third quarter they still held Pleasantville to just one touchdown, and scored 2 touchdowns in the fourth quarter while holding Pleasantville to none. This strong finish gave the Red Devils their first win of the season, giving them plenty of momentum before their next game.
In game 2, the Red Devils put on a clinic as they hosted Camden Eastside in what turned out to be a one-sided beatdown.
After a tremendous defensive possession from RV, they scored their first of many touchdowns well within the first two minutes of possession as Sayvien Adams faked a handoff to Montre Wilson to rush about 40 yards into the endzone. The Red Devils never looked back after that point. In fact, RV was able to hold Eastside scoreless until the final seconds of the third quarter, however, by that time the Red Devils had scored three more touchdowns, giving them a 26-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Though the game was essentially over, RV refused to take their feet off the gas, scoring two more dagger touchdowns as well as forcing a safety. Senior RB Montre Wilson led the team in touchdowns, scoring two on the offensive end as well as a pick-6.
Their third and final game of the home stretch came against Shawnee, who came into the game off the back of a 41-point loss to Camden despite starting the season off strong with two straight wins. Along with being RV’s senior night game, it was also their first real test since their first game of the season against Pascack Valley.
The game got off to a slow start for both teams, as there were probably more penalties than passes thrown for both teams. The Red Devils scored early on in the quarter on a Sayvien Adams and Montre Wilson connection and held Shawnee scoreless. The game quickly turned into somewhat of a blowout as RV scored two touchdowns early in the second quarter, giving them a 21-0 lead a little over halfway through the quarter until Shawnee scored their first points off of a quarterback rush from Cole Anderson. Ironically, Shawnee scored all of their points off of quarterback rushes. RV went scoreless in the third while Shawnee QB Cole Anderson rushed for another touchdown to cut the lead to just 7. However, in the fourth quarter alone the Red Devils outscored Shawnee 21-7 to secure the win.
RV is now on a three-game win streak, giving them an overall season record of 3-1. Coach Garrett Lucas commented on the team’s late success, stating that “He’s noticed a shift in intensity during practices”, and that sometimes, losses early in the season “can give you a good wakeup”. He has also attributed the recent increased point margin to “improved execution” on both ends of the field. Though these last three victories have all been impressive in their own right, the fact is that two of them have come against teams that have still not broken into the win column. The Red Devils will face Camden on the road in their next game and will host St. Augustine on October 19 for our Homecoming game. Prior to last Friday, both teams were undefeated on the season with all of their wins being blowouts. The bottom line is that we won’t be able to get away with some of the lapses we have made in these last few games against those teams.
Coach Lucas says that the team treats all outcomes the same. “You either celebrate a win for 24 hours, or you deal with a loss for 24 hours then you move on no matter what… you could play a team with 0 wins or a team with 10 wins, you have to be able to learn from both,” said coach Lucas.
On a side note, two of the last three games we played were “Friday Night Light” games. This is something that was a fight to keep, as they were jeopardized following a chaotic event that took place on RV grounds after one of our Friday night games. There is no doubt that the Friday night crowd gives the team a boost, but it also creates a fun environment for the fans in the student section.
Coach Lucas, who has pioneered for the Friday Night games to stay, said “Football is definitely meant to be played on Friday Nights.” Along with making sure that the players had the best possible experience, coach Lucas added:
