Knights spoil Bears' Homecoming, 28-16

River Ridge senior quarterback Kenny Toce isn't a household name in his native Pasco County. But maybe he should be.
On Friday night at the Bears' Den, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound signal caller guided a nearly flawless offensive attack behind two first-half touchdown passes (20, 52 yards) and a third-quarter 16-yard keeper to spoil the Bears' Homecoming Game, 28-16.
"Their quarterback (Toce) hurt us," assessed the Bears' fourth-year Head Coach Cliff Lohrey, who dipped 18-17 lifetime and 2-2 against the Knights. "He threw two touchdowns, the second was a blown coverage. Nobody makes mistakes on purpose, just like nobody misses a free throw on purpose. I've got to do a better job coaching."
How did the Bears, who were out-scored 149-27 through the first three games, fare overall?
"We didn't stop the ball," replied Lohrey, whose team had permitted 21 touchdowns before Friday night. "They were able to stay with their game plan and ate the clock and capitalized. We have improved in some areas. But we've got to develop consistency. We're making too many (mental) mistakes."
Where do the Bears go from here?
"There's no magical solutions. We can't just snap our fingers and wake up on the other end of 0-4," insisted Coach Lohrey. "We'll continue to work hard and coach the kids beginning on Monday. It's easy to come to work when you're winning. Our job as coaches is to get things corrected. Nobody's gonna do it for us."

Arianas rules

Not that Toce was alone.
River Ridge senior tailback Stavros Arianas rushed 24 times for a game-high 144 yards and added his sixth touchdown of the season from six yards out in the fourth quarter.
The non-district, non-conference win improved the Royal Knights to 2-3 on the season and 5-7 lifetime against the Bears.
Central, which out gained River Ridge, 310-308 in total yardage, remained winless at 0-4.
The triumph was the New Port Richey-based team's second in its past 18 road games.
For a Knights' club plagued by turnovers over the first month of the season, River Ridge reversed its trend by committing one turnover - a lost fumble by Toce - on a jarring hit by Nick Rosario with 2:56 left in the game.
But three plays later, Central running back Steven Read in attempting to stretch out a 13-yard reception from quarterback Artie Gartner lost the ball in traffic and the Knights' Zack Ford recovered Central's lone turnover to seal the proceedings.

Setting the tone

Toce, who came in with one touchdown pass and one rushing score, helped set the tone early as the Knights stayed true to their game plan of chewing up the game clock with lengthy drives.
The opening drive gobbled up 64 yards in 10 plays as the second-year starter Toce connected with senior slot back Trevor Hooker on a 20-yard aerial with 7:28 left in the first quarter.
Senior place kicker Sean Jones followed with the first of four perfect point-after touchdown kicks, 7-0.
Central answered with 31 seconds remaining as Gartner, who finished with a season high 10-of 21 passing for 181 yards, hit Rosario on a 46-yard slant route. Rosario finished with a game-high four receptions for 78 yards. Rosario followed by tacking on the PAT kick to tie the game, 7-all.
But fourth-year Head Coach Tim Stevens' club countered with a 78-yard drive in six plays culminating in a 52-yard strike to a wide-open Ford with 9:41 left in the second quarter, 14-7 Knights.
Here, CHS answered with a drive that stalled at River Ridge 15-yardline before opting for Rosario's 31-yard field goal with 5:24 left in the first half, 14-10.
Stevens' club, which out rushed Central 232-129, appeared to roll up their sleeves again in the third quarter taking their opening possession in the second half and marching 74 yards in eight plays.
Toce's 16-yard quarterback keeper up the middle extended the lead with 5:41 showing.
After Central turned the ball over on downs, the Knights applied the dagger behind a 15-play, 67-yard drive that chewed up nearly seven minutes.
Arianas, who came in with 337 rushing yards, capped the scoring drive from six yards out with 6:12 left in the game.
CHS responded with an 11-play, 65-yard drive capped by Read's first rushing touchdown of the year from a yard out. Read finished with 64 rushing yards on 12 attempts.
The drive was buoyed with a 25-yard and 21-yard completions from Gartner to Andrew Arevalo.
Gartner, who was sacked four times, rushed 12 times for team-high 67 yards.
Gartner's two-point conversion pass fell incomplete with 3:45 showing closing the scoring, 28-16.

River Ridge 28, Central 16
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
RR 7 7 7 7 --28
CEN 7 3 0 6 --16
Individual Scoring:
RR - Hooker 20 pass from Toce (Jones kick)
CEN - Rosario 46 pass from Gartner (Rosario kick)
RR - Ford 52 pass from Toce (Jones kick)
CEN - Rosario 31 FG
RR - Toce 16 run (Jones kick)
RR - Arianas 6 run (Jones kick)
CEN - Read 1 run (Gartner pass fails)

RR CEN
First Downs 14 11
Atts./Rushing Yds. 47-232 27-129
Comp./Pass Atts./Int. 4-8-0 10-22-0
Passing Yds. 76 181
Total Offense 55-308 49-310
Fumbles/Lost 2-1 2-1
Return Yards 5-42 6-85
Punts/Avg. 3-27.7 2-44.5
Penalties 3-21 6-63