Riverbank High School’s varsity football team came out of the locker room surging to a 12-0 first-quarter lead in non-league action Friday, Aug. 29 at home against the Wildcats of Waterford.

Bruin running back Tim Brown effectively split the defensive secondary about midway through the first frame, but lack of a PAT left the score at 6-0. Later, running back Roy Rogers fought for a first down inside the 15-yard line, then, seconds later, bullied his way across the goal line for Riverbank’s second touchdown of the first quarter. With a failed two-point conversion attempt, RHS took the early two-score lead, with the score remaining 12-0 until Waterford snapped back with 12 points of their own the near the end of the first quarter, which ended 12-12.

Waterford tacked on 12 more points in the second quarter and ended the first half with Riverbank down by a 24-12 margin.

In the third quarter, the Bruins added another six points, but the Wildcats added 13 in the fourth frame, leaving the final score 37-18, Waterford coming out on top.

RHS hosts the Denair Coyotes this week in another non-league game Friday, with the start time set for around 7:30 p.m. Denair’s record is also 0-1 on the season, following a loss to Summerville in Tuolumne.

The Bruins travel to Delhi on Sept. 12, to Linden on Sept. 19, then have a bye on Sept. 26.

JV Victory

The JV Bruins came out strong in the first quarter of the early game Friday, leading the Junior Wildcats 7-0, at the end of the first half. A third quarter TD and a leaping two-point conversion by Chris Certuche left the tally 15-0, but the Junior Wildcats came back to close out the frame 15-8. A fourth quarter charge by running back Allen Brown, pushing through the Waterford secondary helped close out the game out at 21-14, JV Bruins taking the win.

Riverbank hosts Denair’s Junior Coyotes on Friday, Sept. 5 with the JV game set to start at 5:30 p.m.