He was contained for most of the game. But on the final drive, there was no stopping him.
Stephenson running back Dallas Rivers gained 66 of his game-high 183 yards on the winning march to lead the Jaguars to a 10-6 win over M.L. King.
Before that last drive, Rivers gained 84 of his 109 yards on two long runs, as the Lions defense mostly bottled him up for short gains.
But when Stephenson started on its 19-yard line with a three-point deficit and 8:54 to play, the Jaguars suddenly had a battering ram.
Rivers reeled off runs of 8, 14, 11, 30, 6, 2 and 3 yards on consecutive plays, the last one finishing in the end zone to give Stephenson its first touchdown and, eventually, the win.
“We feel like, if we just keep punching it, something will break,” said Stephenson coach Ron Gartrell, whose team snapped a three-year losing streak to their Region 6-AAAAA and county rivals.
“We’re playing against a great defense over there. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. But our offense just got it done when it needed to get done.”
So did the defense.
M.L. King got the ball back on its 20 with 6:53 left, not too long removed from a 15-play, 80-yard, 7:58 third-quarter drive that put the Lions in front 6-3.
So both teams knew the Lions were capable of taking it down the field again.
Aided by some clutch play by quarterback Roland Rivers and a personal-foul penalty, the Lions marched to the Stephenson 9 with first-and-goal with 2 minutes left.
But penalties then bit the Lions. A holding call took it back to the 26, followed by an illegal-substitution penalty that left them with second-and-goal at the 31.
They couldn’t recover, and Stephenson held on.
M.L. King finished with almost 250 total yards, but the Lions had a difficult time punching the ball in the end zone.
Roland Rivers led Stephenson with 141 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 12-of-28 passing.
Stephenson’s Robert Pritchett finished with 24 carries for 75 yards.
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