MENDOTA – Mendota’s lone win last football season was against Riverdale. The much-improved Rams made sure that didn’t happen in 2024.

Riverdale didn’t show much flashiness, but it came through with just enough clutch plays when it needed them the most en route to a 23-12 triumph over the Trojans in a Three Rivers Conference crossover game on Aug. 30 at the MHS field.

The Rams converted several first downs at key instances of the game while the Trojans committed the only two turnovers in the contest and were beset by back-breaking penalties that aided Riverdale’s cause. Mendota was whistled for nine infractions totaling 65 yards, several of which kept Riverdale offensive drives alive.

The Rams didn’t need any help when they took the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in just five plays to begin the scoring. A 31-yard gallop by Caen Beckett put the Rams in business at the Mendota 31-yard line, then quarterback Kolton Kruse completed the drive with a 3-yard run just over two minutes into the game. Aiden Sensabaugh kicked the extra point.

Mendota’s first offensive series of 2024 saw it move from its own 34 to the Riverdale 39, but the Trojans were stopped short of a first down on a fourth-and-four play at the Ram 37.

Riverdale got back into the end zone on its ensuing possession on a six-play, 63-yard drive. Beckett scored from 20 yards out, and after the extra-point kick was blocked, the Rams owned a 13-0 lead at the 2:14 mark of the initial stanza. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Mendota contributed to the Riverdale drive.

Mendota’s next possession included a 31-yard pass completion from Aden Tillman to Keegan Beetz, but the drive stalled and the Trojans punted the ball back to Riverdale.

The Rams managed to tack on a 26-yard field goal by Sensabaugh with just over a minute left in the half to take a 16-0 lead to the locker room. A costly offsides penalty on the Trojans kept Riverdale’s drive going when it was facing a fourth-and-two from its own 31-yard line.

Riverdale kicked off to Mendota to start the second half, and needing a score in the worst way, the Trojans responded with a 14-play, 75-yard drive. Corbin Furar put the finishing touches on the series when he darted into the end zone from the 1-yard line. Mendota’s two-point conversion run came up short. The scoring drive took nearly seven minutes to complete and was sustained when the Rams were called for pass interference penalty on a fourth-and-four play from the Ram 15-yard line.

Just like the offense needed to produce to start the second half, Mendota’s defense had to do the same, and it did when Riverdale’s ensuing possession resulted in a punt. That punt traveled only 6 yards and the Trojans took over with excellent field position at the Ram 34-yard line. But Mendota couldn’t take advantage when it fumbled the ball away to Riverdale at the Rams’ 43-yard line.

The Trojan defense rose up again, forcing another Riverdale punt that only went 15 yards. Starting at its own 30, Mendota committed its second turnover in as many possessions when Jackson Tegeler picked off a Tillman aerial and returned it to the Ram 26 with 7:26 left in the game.

The Trojans looked like they were going to get the ball back when they had Riverdale in a third-and-13 situation deep in Ram territory, but a big run by Beckett picked up the first down. The Rams finished off the 72-yard drive with an 8-yard TD run by Kruse with 2:16 left. Sensabaugh added the extra-point kick.

The Trojans were able to add another touchdown when Furar raced 51 yards to the end zone as time expired.

Mendota outgained Riverdale, 297 yards to 274, with Furar rushing 11 times for 78 yards and Braiden Freeman carrying eight times for 66 yards. Tillman completed 10 passes for 121 yards, with Freeman catching five passes for 45 yards. Beckett gained 135 yards in 15 totes for the Rams.