Mustangs roll past Riverside

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina/Lyndonville running back Jake Cotter goes over the top of Riverside defender Ariq Figueroa during the Mustangs win over the visiting Frontiers this evening at Vets Park.

Ignited by a quick touchdown in the first three minutes, Medina/Lyndonville went on to defeat Riverside of Buffalo 28-8 this evening in an interdivisional game at Vets Park.

Jake Cotter, who rushed for a total of 174 yards on the evening, scored on a 14 yard run just 2:28 into the game and the Mustangs were off and rolling in their first ever gridiron meeting with Riverside.

Quarterback Tyler Valley, who was making his first varsity start, had pass completions of 24 yards to Eric Neace and 23 yards to Mason Lewis to highlight the drive.

The Mustangs boosted the advantage to 20-0 at the half on a pair of second quarter touchdown passes by Valley who completed 12 of 19 for 131 yards for the game.

Valley first hooked up with Cotter on a fourth down screen pass play that went for 21 yards and a touchdown. Valley added the two-point conversion run to make it 14-0.

Cotter had a 21 yard run to get that drive rolling.

Valley then completed a 15 yard TD pass to Dylan Lewis with just three seconds remaining in the half to make it 20-0.

Cotter had runs of 18 and 10 yards and Valley pass completions of 10 yards to Dylan Lewis and 8 yards to Jalin Cooper to highlight the march.

Mustang defenders Noah Banazwski and Charles Beach bring down Riverside’s Diamond Allen.

“We played much closer to a complete game tonight,” said Mustangs Coach Eric Valley. “We were able to mix it up pretty well with the run and the pass and we got good contributions from a number of players on both sides of he ball. We got good efforts from a lot of players in all phases of the game.”

The Mustangs defensive unit also came up with a pair of big turnovers in the half on a fumble recovery by Gage Grabowski and an interception by Dylan Lewis to stop Riverside scoring threats. Noah Banazwski forced the fumble. Banazwski later had an interception himself in the third quarter to stop another Frontiers drive.

Mustangs back Eric Neace picks up good yardage.

The Mustangs advantage ballooned to 28-0 midway through the fourth quarter on a 16 yard touchdown run by Cotter. A 14 yard run by Neace and a 10 yard pass from Valley to Dylan Lewis highlighted the drive.

Riverside avoided the shutout on a late 14 yard pass reception by Diamond Allen. Lamont Curry added the two-point conversion.

Now at 2-1 overall, the Mustangs return to B East Division action next Friday night by hosting Barker/Roy-Hart at Vets Park at 7:30 p.m.

The loss drops Rverside to 0-3.

Charles Beach of the Mustangs tries to block a pass attempt by Riverside’s Manny White.