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Since defeating Garner in 2006 in the Eastern Regional Final, Riverside has not defeated Garner, that trend would continue Friday night as Garner built a big first half lead then held on and stave off a Pirate rally to win the game 35-27.
On the first possession of the game, Riverside fumbled the ball away on their third play from scrimmage, Garner would quickly capitalize on the miscue as Jeremiah Davis went 35 yards into the end zone for the 7-0 Garner lead.
Following a Riverside punt on their next possession, Garner put together a long scoring drive with the big play begin a 41 yard pass play from Cody Woodall to Jeremiah Davis which led to a Cody Woodall passing touchdown to Brian M. Watkins, and the Trojans were up 14-0 to end the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, the Pirates put together a drive which lasted almost 9 minutes but only got a field goal and it was 14-3 Trojans.
Garner would then take over with just 1:52 to play in the half and two timeouts, that's when Woodall and the Trojans went to work. After back to back runs, Woodall connected on a 17 yard pass play to Davis that was followed by a 21 and 19 yards pass completions on consecutive plays for Garner and the drive was capped by a Jeremiah Davis five yard touchdown run to give Garner a 21-3 lead one they would hold until halftime.
The Trojans got the ball to begin the second half and wasted little time getting back on the board as Isiah Moore took the opening kick-off of the second half 89 yards for the Touchdown and it was 28-3 Garner.
Riverside would then begin to put together some drives together which led to a couple of scores as the Pirates would eventually cut the lead to seven points at 28-21 in the middle of the fourth quarter.
However, after Riverside cut the lead to seven, the Trojans marched the ball down the field on five plays and the drive was capped as James Skillern 20 yard touchdown run to give Garner a 35-21 lead which really put the game away.
On the final drive of the game, Riverside marched down the field as Garner was playing a very soft cover defense and the Pirates added a meaningless score for the final of 35-27.
Garner is now 2-2 on the season as they return home next week for the Conference opener against West Johnston, kick-off is slated for 7:30.
***The Trojan Sports Network Crew would like to say thank you to the Riverside Athletic Department for accommodating the broadcast crew tonight and allowing us to bring you Trojan Football.***
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