Riverside falls in OT at Hudson

In the moments after Riverside’s 35-28 D-II regional quarterfinal loss to Hudson on Oct. 23, Riverside coach Dave Bors was speechless.

As Bors leaned on a rock in the north end of Hudson Memorial Stadium, he watched Hudson celebrate its win over Riverside. A couple different bounces and Bors and his team could have be the ones celebrating at midfield. Instead, his team was quietly filing into Hudson’s visiting locker room and into a long offseason.

“They played their tails off,” Bors said. “Our motto all season has been ‘any time, anywhere’ and we really embodied that. It didn’t matter what we had to go through, we just kept coming.”

The adversity came early for both teams, as the kickoff was moved up an hour to 6 p.m. in an attempt to beat a torrential lightning and thunderstorm coming through the area. At the start, it looked like that change might get to the Beavers, as they gave an opening score touchdown to Hudson on a five-yard run from Drew Lightner.

THE SCORE

HUDSON 35, RIVERSIDE 28 (OT)

Instead, Riverside came roaring back, as they took the lead on touchdowns thanks to a 38-yard touchdown run from Camyden Locher and a 32 yard touchdown catch by Jamir Francis from Domenic Lulow and went into the second quarter leading 14-7 before heading into halftime up

21-14. After Hudson scored on a touchdown on its first possession of the second half, Riverside got the ball back hoping to get another score.

Instead, the rain came. After lightning was spotted in the area, both teams were sent to their locker rooms for an 87-minute rain delay. After both teams netted touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, Riverside had a chance to nearly put the game away in the Hud

son red zone but instead turned the ball over on downs after Hudson’s Nick Jackson blew up a fourth down run. With 2:22 left, Hudson’s high-powered offense took over with a chance to win. Instead, the Beaver defense stepped up with two big sacks to keep the game scoreless and force overtime.

“We had someone step up and make a play all night,” Bors said. “It wasn’t a perfectly played clean game,

but it doesn’t matter because we were resilient.”

In overtime, Hudson got the ball first and scored on a two-yard scamper from Aiden Lal. On Riverside’s possession, the Hudson defense snuffed out three straight Riverside runs before Lulow’s pass to James Bruno was broken up on fourth down, setting up a wild celebration at Hudson Memorial Stadium.

No matter the outcome, this season is one to remem

ber for Bors at Riverside. Five years ago, Bors barely had enough players to have a team. This year they took the seventh-ranked team in the state to overtime in the playoffs. The Beavers were led on offense by a trio of seniors. Lulow finished 17for-26 passing for 279 yards and two touchdowns while Locher had 130 yards rushing. Bruno led the team in receiving with 106 yards.

“It means the world,” Bors said when asked about

his seniors. “These guys have given so much to the program and worked so hard.

After finishing his interview, Bors took one last look at Hudson’s celebration before going to address his team in the locker room.

“The only bad thing about the playoffs is that you never know it’s your last game,” he had said seconds earlier.

“We just found out five minutes ago. It’s tough.”