Late gamble pays off as Riverview edges Imani Christian for 1st win

By: George Guido
Saturday, September 28, 2019 | 7:12 PM

Riverview, on the doorstep of its first victory this season, crossed the threshold Saturday.

After Zach Hanlon’s 9-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 5 seconds left brought the Raiders within one point, Riverview coach Todd Massack decided to go for the win against Imani Christian.

The gamble paid off, as Hanlon found a slight opening on the right side for the 2-point conversion, giving Riverview a 21-20 lead.

The slim advantage held up, as the Raiders stopped the Saints on downs and ran out the final 2:21 of the clock.

Hanlon, whose touchdown capped a 14-play, 81-yard drive, wasn’t surprised Massack went for two.

“Our coaches always go for the win,” Hanlon said. “We knew we were going to fight tough out here, and my linemen helped me out, not me.”

“It’s funny because there was some conversation going on the sideline,” Massack said of the decision to go for two points. “I said we’re going for two. At this point in the season, we hadn’t won a game yet, so I said let’s go two, line up and pound the ball.”

Riverview is 1-3 in the Eastern Conference and 1-4 overall. Imani slipped to 0-6, 0-4.

The Saints appeared in the driver’s seat as sophomore Raysaun Jackson caught a 35-yard pass from Pharoh Fisher on the first play of the fourth quarter to put Imani on top 20-13.

But Riverview put together its long drive that ate up 7:47 of the clock at Riverside Park.

The key play was a fourth-and-5 conversion. Jackson Corey ran a slant left and caught a pass from reserve quarterback Justyn Slebrich at the Imani 15.

Slebrich, playing in place of the injured Ryan Aber, completed only two passes on the day, but the 13-yarder to Corey was critical as the Raiders scored four plays later.

Said Massack: “I told our kids they have some great athletes and can score at any time. We can’t get frustrated, and we need to keep working and plugging away and I thought we did that.”

Said Saints coach Ronnell Heard: “We needed to make more stops on third down. I’m playing with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and one senior. This is literally a year where we have to get better and stronger, and we’ll see you again next season and be a whole lot stronger. It’ll be Imani like it used to.”

Fisher, a sophomore, threw for 161 yards, and Sean McCaskill, the lone senior, caught four passes for 70 yards.

Imani took a 14-13 lead on a 25-yard run by Braushaud Mullen with 5:12 to go in the third quarter.

The Riverview defense stopped the Saints five times on fourth-down attempts. The most important one was on Imani’s final play on fourth-and-11. A screen pass to McCaskill was completed, but freshman Richard Calabrese was there for the stop.

Another big Raiders defensive play was a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown by James Williams on the final play of the first half.

Hanlon finished with 112 rushing yards, and sophomore Dean Cecere ran for 91 yards.

Riverview will play a nonconference game Friday at Jefferson-Morgan, the school the Raiders defeated in the 1994 WPIAL playoff game known as “The Miracle at the Park.”

Tags: Imani Christian, Riverview