No. 2 Imani Christian rolls over Riverview

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, September 29, 2018 | 11:19 PM

The Riverview band sounded outstanding playing underneath the the steel structure that covers the bleachers at Wilkinsburg’s Graham Field. The acoustics were perfect. The only problem is while the band was sitting down and playing, it was the Saints who came marching in.

Imani Christian senior quarter back Israel Reed threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns as the WPIAL Class A No. 2-ranked Saints rolled past Riverview, 54-0, in an Eastern Conference matchup Saturday afternoon.

“When you get a team that you’re supposed to win against, you gotta win,” Imani coach Ronnell Heard said. “These guys came out and they executed the way we expected them them to. The defense played lights out.”

Imani (5-1, 3-1) took the opening kickoff and marched 70 yards in six plays before Reed connected on a short strike to senior Marc Peters, who raced for 32 yards to give the Saints an early lead at 7-0 after Peters connected on the school’s first-ever extra-point attempt.

“I will not lose another game by one point,” Heard said, referencing last season’s WPIAL Class A championship loss, 35-34, to rival Jeannette.

But if there’s one thing that has become clear through the first five weeks of the season, it’s that the high-scoring Imani offense tends to fall into a lull early in games.

Riverview (0-5, 0-4) went three-and-out on its first possession and punted to the Saints. That’s when Riverview created its first big opportunity.

With the ball resting at the Raiders 15-yard line, Reed dropped back and tried to hit senior wide receiver Dashaun Wright at the goal line but senior Jared Massack intercepted the pass and sprinted down the Imani sideline before being tackled at the Saints 30. It was the closest the Raiders would come to scoring.

Riverview turned the ball over on downs at the Saints 28 after a Massack pass fell incomplete.

“We’re hurting, no pun intended, for lineman right now in the terms that we have so many kids injured right now,” Massack said. “The injury bug has hit us.”

Imani scored on all five second-quarter possessions. Jauron Thompson scored on a 5-yard run to cap a four-play, 85-yard drive and put the Saints up 14-0.

Wright scored on a 15-yard shuffle pass from Reed to start the rout at 21-0 with just under 10 minutes to go in the second quarter.

“We got (Israel) to relax a little bit and he started taking what the defense was giving them,” Heard said about his team’s slow start.

Massack threw his first interception when Pharaoh Fisher picked off a pass at midfield and returned it to the Raiders 6. One play later, Thompson bulldozed his way into the end zone to extend Imani’s lead to 28-0 with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the first half.

“If you go back and look at a lot of our games, that’s the way it is,” Massack said. “Against Greensburg Central Catholic, it was 14-7 at halftime. Charleroi, it was a game at halftime. Same thing with Clairton, and we hung with Clairton for the first quarter.”

The Raiders had yet to see much of Ball State recruit Rahmon Hart Jr., who scored on touchdown receptions of 55 and 38 yards to bring the score to 40-0 late in the first half. Hart Jr. finished the game with 123 yards on four receptions to lead all receivers.

“(Hart) had a huge game, and he has the potential to take anything he gets his hands on to the house,” Heard said. “Dashaun Wright is another speed guy. All three of those guys together are really, really hard to cover.”

Wright finished with four receptions for 97 yards and one touchdown.

The second half began not only with a running clock due to the mercy rule, but teams also played eight-minute quarters.

Riverview running back JD Sykes led the Raiders with 12 yards on 12 carries. His longest run of the game came on an 8-yard carry in the first half.

“It is what it is, “ Massack said. “The message in (the locker room afterwards) was that we need to come ready to work on Monday and be ready for a crossover game with Jefferson-Morgan.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Imani Christian, Riverview