Sabetha 28, Riverside 12

The Cyclones could not overcome three turnovers as Sabetha grounded out 323 rushing yards and won an impressive district road opener to improve to 3-4 overall on the season and hand Riverside their first defeat of the year.  It was a defensive game early on, before Riverside fumbled a punt return and gave Sabetha the ball at the 8 yard line.  Three plays later, the Jays capatalized with a two-yard touchdown run by Michael Baumgartner for a 7-0 lead after one quarter and never trailed the rest of the game.  

After a pair of early mistakes, Riverside senior linebacker, Zach Halter intercepted a Sabetha pass and the Cyclones drove 66 yards in 8 plays and scored on a one yard run by Drew Hoffman.  The two-point conversion was no good and the Jays still lead 7-6.  Late in the first half after forcing Riverside to punt from their own endzone, Sabetha went 38 yards and scored with :05 left on a on-yard run by sophomore quarterback, Brock Frey.  The Jays led 13-6 at the break.  

Sabetha continued to play good defense and controlled field position and time possession as they had another short 43 yard drive capped by Baumgartner's 26 yard run for a 21-6 lead at the 3:54 mark in the third quarter.  After being pinned deep, the Cylones went 95 yards in a hurry and scored on an 11 yard pass from Andrae McGaughy to Mason McCall, but still trailed 21-12 after missing another two-point try.  The Bluejays secured the victory with their third takeaway as Jacob Frey intercepted a pass and Brett Plattner broke free on a 27 yard rushing score to seal the game 28-12.  

Baumgartner earned "Player to Bank On" honors sponsored by Citizens State Bank and Trust Company after leading the way with 163 yards on 28 carries and the two scores were his first of the season after missing a few games with injury.  Plattner added 73 yards on the ground after leading rusher Keegan Schumann played only defense after getting dinged up late in the first half.  The Bluejays improved to 1-0 in district play and will host Horton (0-1) this week.  

Riverside (6-1, 0-1), who had won their first six games all by 20 points or more, was playing just their second Big 7 League opponent and now must rebound quickly to face another in a must-win game at Hiawatha (4-3, 1-0) on Friday.  The Cyclones were led by McGaughy who was 12 of 23 for 191 yards passing but held to a season low 27 yards on the ground.  Alex Davidson caught 4 passes for 77 yards and Quentin Munger had 76 yards on 4 receptions.  Drew Hoffman led the ground game with 50 yards on 12 carries and Halter was an aggressive monster with 17 tackles plus a forced fumble and INT on defense.  Riverside had 6 plays of 20 yards or more but totaled only 110 yards on their other 42 offensive plays.