Sloppy River Ridge overpowers Aberdeen in opener

It was the first quarter of the first game of the season, and it looked it.

The visiting team, Aberdeen, punted twice and turned it over twice in four first-quarter series. The River Ridge Hawks turned three of the changes of possession into points and owned a three-score lead after one period.

From there, the Hawks looked good in fits and starts in a, 39-8, non-league victory at South Sound Stadium.

River Ridge had three turnovers and was dinged for nine penalties for 95 yards.

“You don’t recover in a lot of games from those kinds of mistakes,” River Ridge coach Steve Schultz said.

The Hawks were mostly productive on offense against the outmanned Bobcats. Senior quarterback Kobe Key was 7-for-8 passing for 114 yards in the first half and finished 8 of 9 for 145 and three touchdowns; senior running back Gustavo Diaz carried 20 times for 86 yards and two TDs.

Defensive back Robert Armstrong recovered a fumble and returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown in the first period as the Hawks’ defense set the tone early. Defensive end Kelle Sanders played much of the first half in Aberdeen’s backfield.

This first game for River Ridge was far from perfect: Three major penalties, for instance, threatened to stall an 80-yard, 15-play drive late in the first half. The Hawks had five penalties for 50 yards in the first half.

First games are also about sticking with it, and the Hawks finally capped that drive with an 8-yard touchdown run by Diaz.

Earlier, a 40-yard pass from Key to Alex Coleman set up a 9-yard scoring pass to Brayden Anderson.

Late in the first quarter, the 5-foot-5 Diaz scampered 35 yards up the middle for a score. It was 25-0 soon thereafter on a 28-yard pass from Key to a wide-open Joshua Braverman.

After halftime, the Hawks got their last score of the game on a 31-yard pass to JT Wesley.

Aberdeen got its only points in the third quarter on a 26-yard touchdown run by sophomore Kylan Touch.

In the end, Schultz was clear on what the Hawks need to work on heading into next week’s non-league matchup against North Thurston: ball protection.

“We expect to take care of the ball,” he said. “(If we don’t) it will kill us … it will end our season.”

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Sloppy River Ridge overpowers Aberdeen in opener."