Turnovers key River Ridge past Franklin Pierce, 26-19

Kobe Key ran away with River Ridge’s 26-19 win Friday night — literally.

The senior quarterback rushed for 103 yards on seven carries for three touchdowns against Class 2A SPSL rival Franklin Pierce at South Sound Stadium.

“Tonight I just saw openings and I just took them,” Key said. “It was because of blocking, too. I always got a block.”

Key played a part in all four River Ridge touchdowns.

On the game-opening drive, Key tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Ryan Blash. Key was 12 for 17 passing for 130 yards.

He came right back on the following drive after the Hawks recovered a Franklin Pierce fumble, punching it in from five yards out to give River Ridge a 14-0 lead.

Hawks running back Gustavo Diaz did most of the leg work in the middle of the field, finishing with 40 carries for 200 yards.

The Cardinals scored 19 unanswered points to carry a 19-14 lead midway through the third quarter, but it was all River Ridge after that.

Key ran in another touchdown with seven minutes, 13 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Hawks a one-point edge, and a lead they wouldn’t lose.

Key recovered a fumble that popped out of Stoney Shafer’s hands and into the air on the following drive. Key rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to give the Hawks the final 26-19 margin.

“Kobe made some big plays, and we just came at them,” River Ridge coach Steve Schultz said. “Our game plan was to take it to them.”

The Hawks certainly made the Cardinals pay for mistakes. They converted 13 points off Franklin Pierce turnovers.

“The fumbles were huge … against good teams, you can’t do that,” Franklin Pierce coach Mickey Ahrens said.

All three of Franklin Pierce’s touchdowns came off the arm of junior quarterback Willie Patterson. He connected on a 45-yard pass to Alex Bing, who made a grab over his left shoulder before running into the end zone in the first quarter.

Patterson threw two more touchdowns for 26 yards apiece to Mason Starling and Emmanuel Thornton to give the Cardinals their only lead of the night.

Patterson was 17 for 28 passing for 280 yards.

The Hawks staved off late scoring attempts by Franklin Pierce to close it out. Last season, River Ridge allowed nine unanswered points in the fourth quarter as Franklin Pierce won, 16-14, to hand the Hawks their only regular-season loss.

Not this time.

The Cardinals turned it over on downs with less than four minutes to play on a deep fourth-and-5 pass attempt to Marquis Malik. River Ridge nearly ran out the clock from there.

The Cardinals got the ball back with 6.8 seconds remaining, but Patterson’s deep pass attempt was incomplete to end the game.

“Their offense was a handful,” Schultz said.

The Hawks (3-0) travel to Orting next Friday as the Cardinals (0-3) will head to White River. Both games are at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Turnovers key River Ridge past Franklin Pierce, 26-19."