CLINTON TWP. — In a contest that came down to the final seconds, Lackawanna Trail came up just a little bit short both on the field and scoreboard against Riverside.
Lackawanna Trail running back James Gillespie appeared the score the game winning-touchdown on a 2-yard run with 2.3 seconds left, but the Lions were flagged for an illegal forward pass penalty, nullifying the play.
The Vikings took over on downs and held on to defeat Lackawanna Trail, 21-18, in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 game Oct. 21.
“I’m very proud of our kids’ effort tonight,” Lackawanna Trail head coach Steve Jervis said. “We were fighting for yardage and might have handed the ball forward to one of our players.”
It took Riverside just 22 seconds to take the lead when Nick Sottile returned the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown off a lateral from Paul Coleman. Sottile has returned a kickoff for a touchdown in five of the Vikings nine games this season.
Riverside (6-3, 6-2 LFC Div. 3) stretched its lead to 13-0 when quarterback Cody Glogowski capped a 14-play, 65-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run with 11:50 remaining in the second quarter.
Cody Moyle and Shawn Jones combined to tackle Coleman short of the goal line on a two-point conversion attempt.
Lackawanna Trail (6-3, 5-3) cut into the Vikings advantage when Thomas Huffsmith rushed for a 14-yard touchdown with 8:42 left in the second quarter. A bad snap on the extra point try prevented the Lions from pulling closer.
“I thought, offensively, we really got into a rhythm,” Jervis said. “We were able to get all three backs involved which we wanted to do with the conditions the way they were.”
The Lions saw a promising drive in the middle of the second quarter end with a turnover. Trail quarterback Nathan Rolka connected with tight end Zac Cost for a 14-yard completion down to the Vikings’ 30-yard line, but Sottile forced a fumble recovered by Glogowski.
Trail pulled to within one point of the lead in the final minute of the first half on a 1-yard touchdown run by Rolka, however his extra point attempt hit off the crossbar.
“We knew we were going to be in a dogfight,” Riverside head coach Ben Thomas said. “They are a good football team, but I give all the credit to our kids.”
The Lions engineered a 10-play, 42-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run from Anthony Berrios, to take an 18-13 lead with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter.
The Vikings answered with a sustained drive of their own to score the game-winning touchdown.
Glogowski finished off an 11-play, 43-yard drive with a 1-yard run and added the two-point conversion attempt to give Riverside a 21-18 lead with 10:24 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Lackawanna Trail will travel to play Montrose in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 game at 7 p.m. Oct. 28.
