Riverbend Football
Riverbend Football is the heart of Riverbend pride and school spirit. You can almost say it’s the motor of the whole first semester, and the majority of the school comes out to support the Bears on Friday nights. As Bend Football rolls through the season, the team has been plagued with injuries as a lot of younger players step up to fill the spots of the injured older players. Sophomore safety Daquan Battle said, “[As young player,] I believe I bring a lot of energy and effort to the team. I feel like if we play as a team [going forward], we can still make the playoffs and end the season with a winning record.”
Junior and returning varsity running back Orlando Jones said, “[My role on the team is] to lead everybody by an example and to make everybody better.”
Head Football Coach Tony Demarco said “As a coach, you want to win on all three phases of the game [offensive, defense, and special teams]. You feel like if you win on all three phases of the game, you have a great chance to win. We also want to win the turnover battle and time of possession battle.”
Riverbend is diving into the belly of the schedule as they hope to get back to where they left off last year. Jones said, “[We want to] finish where we ended, and that’s back to the playoffs”. As Bend Pride carries on, so will the fight to get back on top
Homecoming Game
The most excited and anticipated game of the year is the Homecoming Game. “l feel very confident in my team. I trust my squad, and we are prepared for anything that comes our way [in the game]. We’re working very hard in practice, we’re watching [game] film so we’re ready for this game,” said senior safety Dean Hasan. As the seniors prepare to go into homecoming game on Friday, October 16 for the last time in their high school career Hasan said that he wanted to be remembered as, “A leader… like the guy that wasn’t really strict on the players but my last game I’m going to go out with making good plays.”
Riverbend played the Eagles of Freedom High School in Prince William County. Junior defensive back CJ Washington said before the game, “Freedom is well coached team. They have a lot of athletes, so we have to stop those athletes and make plays on offense to win the game.”
Riverbend came into the contest with a 2 win and 5 loss record. Freedom took a 14 point lead early in the game but the Bears fought off the Eagles to take the 31 to 21 victory. The Bears have had trouble finishing Homecoming Games in the past including the loss last year to Brooke Point making this win a bit more exciting. Riverbend advances to 3 wins and 5 loses on the year, which puts them third in 6A Conference 4. The Bears are on a two game winning streak and hope to finish out the season strong and make a push for the playoffs.
