The Riverview Rams Varsity Boys (1-1) traveled to Tampa to face the Tampa Jesuit Tigers (2-0) for a non-district game Friday night. With the Tigers controlling the face-off circle, winning 80% of face-offs, and maintaining control of the ball for most of the game, Jesuit made quick work of the Rams, jumping out to a 15-1 lead by halftime, and cruised to a 22-1 win. The loan goal for the Rams was scored by senior Solano Benitez in the 1st quarter, his fourth goal of the season.

“You only get better by playing the teams above you!”
The Rams traveled to Tampa, knowing just that; this would be the toughest game of the season so far for the Rams.  Prior to the game, Jesuit was ranked #24 in Nation, and #3 in Division 1A in Florida. FLN’s Lee Roggenburg stated during his YouTube Channel “Morning Coffee With FLN” on Friday morning, that “this should be a terrific matchup,” and boy was he right.

It would take a huge defensive effort by the Rams and timely scoring for the offense to defeat the previously undefeated Jesuit Tigers (9-1).  In the 4th quarter, with 9:40 remaining on the clock, Jesuit Junior, Chase Minacci put the Tiger’s up by 3 points with an impressive behind the back score and a 9-6 advantage.  Down by 2 goals, and only 3:10 left on the clock, Riverview’s coach DeLisser called a timeout, and it was just what he Rams needed, as :15 seconds later, Riverview’s Blake Quigley would find Ken Kaiser cutting to the front of the goal for a quick shot and score, pulling the Rams within one with 2:54 remaining. With the Rams down 9-8, and just :28 seconds remaining, Junior Ken Kaiser scored again to force the game into overtime.  It took nearly the entire 4 minute overtime before the game was finally decided, when, with just :24 seconds remaining and with the Rams “Man-up”, Kevin Southerland found Freshman JC Fleming who was able to shoot just above GLE for the game-winning goal.

The winning goal was setup by the heads-up play of Rams’ goalie Chris Johnson, who’s quick action on a wide shot by Jesuit’s Colin Kruger enabled him to get ahead of the Tiger’s attacker as the ball went out-of-bounds, to turn possession over to Riverview with less than a minute to play in the overtime.  Senior Tyler Horiuchi received the clear and took the ball the length of the field and drew a hard cross-check penalty in the back which put the Rams “man-up” with less than 30 seconds to go in the overtime.  The entire play is our “Highlight-of-the-Week.”

In the end, four different Rams would have 3-point games.  Blake Quigley (1G/2A), Ken Kaiser (3G), Will Evans (2G/1A), and Kevin Southerland (2G/1A).  Chris Johnson was stellar in goal with 15 saves, including 2 key saves in the overtime.

Jesuit Scoring Summary: So. #22 Colin Kruger (4 Goals), Jr. #14 Chase Minacci (4 Goals).  Jesuit’s FOGO, Scott Moore was nearly perfect at face-off, going 18-for-22.

For the first time in program history, the Rams defeated the Jesuit Tigers, 10-9. A very impressive win, with 7 different players contributing to the scoring, including Senior Jake Day, that not only scored, but had 5 takeaways to go along with his 3 groundballs. The contribution by the Rams’ Sophomore class was excellent, with Blake Quigley netting 3 goals, Will Evans picking up 6 groundballs and Ray Leffler winning 9-out-of-10 faceoffs. Senior Dusty Hibbs collected 3 points (2G/1A). Junior Wyatt Khaighin had 11 saves in goal. Congratulations to Coach Pete and all the players on this historic program win.

2019 Varsity Boys Preseason Scrimmages:
Maclay (Tallahassee) (District 2)
Tampa Jesuit (District 16)
Plant (District 16)
Riverview-Sarasota (District 17)

10:00AM – Riverview vs. Plant (PLANT WINS, 4-3)
11:15AM – Riverview vs. Jesuit
12:30PM – Plant VS. MACLAY
1:45PM – JESUIT VS. MACLAY

Scrimmages will be held at Jesuit High School.

The Rams lost a non-conference matchup against Tampa Jesuit, 11-6.  Junior Rhys McRobb was a standout at faceoffs, winning 12 of 19 faceoffs (63%).