Last season, the Riverdale football team made a regional final for the first time in the program’s 55-year history.
It appears the Raiders have started to make a habit of it.
Seeded No. 1 in Class 5A-Region 3, the Raiders advanced in the playoffs after a 21-14 comeback win against Immokalee behind a blistering defensive performance.
Awaiting Riverdale in the regional final is a familiar foe – the third-seeded Manatee squad that eliminated the Raiders in the same round last year in a 38-0 rout.
“This is a game that we kind of circled, and we want,” Riverdale head coach Kendoll Gibson said.
Despite losing more than three dozen seniors from last year’s final four team, Manatee finds itself back in the regional final for the second consecutive year. The Hurricanes overwhelmed the Cape Coral defensive front, rushing for 392 yards and five touchdowns in last week’s 55-29 victory.
“We’ve got only nine seniors on the whole team,” Manatee head coach Jacquez Green said. “We’re young as hell in a lot of spots.”
The Hurricanes do have some experienced youth, however, including three returning junior starters on an offensive line. That unit paved the way for junior running back Keith Smith’s career performance as he carried the rock 30 times for 242 yards and four total touchdowns in the win over Cape Coral. At just 5-foot-7 and 170 pounds, Smith showcased his ability to bounce off would-be tacklers and consistently generate extra yardage against the Seahawks.
“He’s been healthy for the past four or five games, and he’s been playing like a big-time back,” Green said of Smith. “He’s got terrific vision, terrific balance, he’s built low to the ground. He’s a special player.”
Manatee is just 6-6 heading into the matchup against Riverdale, but played the toughest regular-season schedule in Class 5A, according to the FHSAA rankings. Those losses came against teams who entered the postseason with a record of 57-8-1, an .871 winning percentage.
“We play a tough schedule for times like this,” Green said. “When we get in the playoffs, we’ve seen everything you could show us. If you’re going to beat us, you’re going to beat us because you’re clearly more talented than us. You’re not going to beat us on effort.”
One significant difference from last year’s contest between the Raiders and Hurricanes is that it will be played in Fort Myers instead of Bradenton.
The Raiders are 7-0 at home this season with just one loss over the last two years.
“We have some great fans,” Gibson said. “When I look up in the stands, I see my mom, my kids. (The players) look up and see their families. And the community support – how can you not play hard? You got fireworks going off. It’s just an atmosphere that feels good to be a part of.”
Riverdale has won a program-best 11 games this season, losing just once to Cypress Lake in September. The experience and physicality of the Raiders’ defense have played an important role in the team’s success.
Led by coordinator Corey May, the unit was impressively giving up 18 points a game last year but have lowered that average to 12 points a game this season.
The defense is filled with upperclassmen developed by Gibson and May, who both joined the staff at Riverdale four years ago.
Players like Ky’moni Gordon, Jeremiah Bataille, Julien Correa, Kaleb McIntyre, and Coby Hayes started on the 2023 Raiders team that won just two games. Now they are all major contributors to one of the most fearsome defenses in Southwest Florida.
Riverdale allowed just one offensive touchdown to Immokalee in the regionals semifinals and shut out the Indians in the second half. Senior defensive back Carlton Williams recovered a fumble and came up with the game-sealing interception in the win.
“(May is) phenomenal, just the way he can relate to the kids and get them to play his style,” Gibson said. “And he’s a great teacher, so they listen to him. He’s young enough to where he knows their lingo and just the way they learn. We came over here with a vision, and it feels good for that vision to be playing out right now.”
May’s father, former South Fort Myers head coach Willis May, joined the staff last season to run the offense.
Already a formidable rushing team, Riverdale has improved through the air this season as senior quarterback Theodis Harris (1,561 yards, 14 touchdowns and 3 interceptions) has a couple new explosive targets in brothers Marquan and Marquis Young.
But the team’s bread and butter starts in the trenches and with powerful senior running back Lovensky Blanchard, who has gone for 1,500 yards and 23 touchdowns on 202 carries and thrived in tough yardage situations.
“Nobody wants to hit Lovensky in the fourth quarter,” Gibson said. “He’s a bruiser. He carries guys on his back. Our offensive line are disciplined – they’re programmed to get hard yards. We practice that way, and we know that, once we get a little lead, we can rely on them.”
The Manatee defense will prove to be a challenge. Battle-tested from the team’s tough schedule, the unit is led by senior linebackers Ronin Dangler and Storm Hense.
In the team’s first round victory against Charlotte, Dangler posted 11 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.
In the secondary, sophomore Jared Sanders has picked off five passes this season, including one in the Hurricanes’ first-round playoff victory against Charlotte.
Throughout the season, Riverdale has withstood early setbacks, often pulling away from opponents in the second half.
Friday’s regional final will require the Raiders to absorb the hardest hits from the Hurricanes if they want a different outcome than last year.
“They fight,” Gibson said of his team. “We got a great defense that holds it down for us, and we condition. They work hard. We put a point of emphasis on our strength and conditioning program, and we rely on that.”
−Sports reporter Dan DeLuca contributed to this report.
Dustin Levy is a high school sports reporter. Reach him by emailing DLevy2@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: FHSAA Class 5A Final Four spot on line in Riverdale vs. Manatee rematch
Reporting by Dustin B Levy, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
