As soon as Riverhead’s backup quarterback Kenny Simco entered the locker room Saturday morning, he was smothered in questions from his teammates.
“Are you ready to start?”
“You good to go?”
“How are you feeling?”
At first, he was confused; but it didn’t take long for him to piece the puzzle together. On Friday night, senior starting quarterback Cody Smith sustained an injury to his eye while with friends. Smith ended up needing medical attention as the impact caused his eyelid to swell, blurring his vision. He couldn’t suit up for the game thus forcing an inexperienced Simco to take the reigns on short notice.
“The good thing is that he’s a great quarterback,” head coach Leif Shay said of Simco, a junior. “He would be starting for us if Cody wasn’t in front of him.”
“I told everyone I was ready,” Simco said. “I mean I’ve been working hard in practice so it was just another day on the job.”
But his job this week would be just a bit different as he left the headset behind to buckle his chinstrap and compete.
“Whenever your number is called you have to make the best out of every opportunity,” Simco said.
And he did just that, leading the Blue Waves to victory over the Newfield Wolverines 21-8. The win pushes Riverhead (7-1) into first place in Division II with the playoffs beginning next week.
“I told them in the beginning not to live in circumstance,” Shay said. “The circumstances weren’t great but we have substance. Let’s worry about the substance we have on the field.”
Many of the Blue Waves took the SAT exam before the game, causing them to come late. In addition to Smith, Jaron Greenidge was also unable to play as he suffered an injury to the head in warmups. Halfback Jeremiah Cheatom reached the field with eight minutes left in the first quarter but needed to get taped before entering the game.
“It was a tough adjustment at first but once I stepped on the field and took my first handoff I felt fine,” Cheatom said.
Cheatom entered the game in Riverhead’s third possession. The Blue Waves had their first two drives stall with sophomore Ryun Moore in the backfield. As Moore came off the sideline, Cheatom gave him a nod and a pat on the shoulder.
It was time to turn things up before a Riverhead crowd that easily outnumbered Newfield’s fans. Cheatom took the first handoff up the middle for seven yards followed by a one yard gain and another seven-yarder for a first down. But after a Simco incompletion and a Cheatom run for no gain, the Blue Waves faced the possibility of yet another empty drive.
On third-and-10, when Simco dropped back to pass, a defender broke through the line nearly untouched; but before he could reach the Blue Wave quarterback, Cheatom cleaned him off his feet, delivering a snot-bubble hit. The extra time allowed Simco to complete a 18-yard pass to Ryan Hubbard for a first down.
“That hit got me going,” Cheatom said. “I seen him coming. He was right on my center. I saw him about to hit Kenny and knew I had to get there.”
Cheatom would later score the first touchdown of the game on an 11-yard run. He would score again in the following possession on a four-yard run.
Cheatom finished with 27 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
It didn’t take long for Simco to get comfortable either as he registered a touchdown of his own on a 20-yard strike to Hubbard.
Simco finished 10-17 with 119 passing yards and one touchdown.
But by far, the key to the Blue Wave victory was what they were able to do on defense. Riverhead had 10 tackles for loss and three sacks. Ryan Harkin, who was one of the Blue Waves that missed the beginning of the game, ended up leading the team in tackles with 10. He also recorded two tackles for loss and one sack. In the first quarter while he was offense, a Newfield player threw a punch at him with no consequence which seemed to get him going.
“I saw we had some players out and I took it upon myself to step up for the team,” Harkin said.
And as far as the punch, Harkin said: “I just laughed that off. It’s all a part of the game. They’re going to get mad and you got to take it. I wasn’t going to retaliate and take a penalty.”
Regardless who you put out there on defense, the Blue Waves always find a way to dominate.
“There is a lot of talent on this team and anybody is ready to step up when they get the chance,” Harkin said.
The Blue Waves will have a home game next Saturday for the first round of the playoffs. Their opponent will be determined on Monday.
Email Michael Hejmej: michael@riverheadlocal.com
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Emil Breitenbach Jr.
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