Thursday Football: South Fort Myers rallies to stun Riverdale

Never count out the Wolfpack.

South Fort Myers mounted a furious comeback with two touchdowns in the final three minutes to upset Riverdale 20-17, handing the Raiders their first loss at home in two years on Thursday night.

Trailing 17-6 in the fourth quarter, it appeared grim for the Wolfpack after a fumbled snap at the Riverdale goal line led to a turnover.

With three minutes left in the game, South Fort Myers junior quarterback Jaydon Henderson threw a 34-yard bomb to sophomore Tenaris Kearse for a touchdown to bring the Wolfpack within a score.

The South defense came up with a sack fumble, recovered by junior Ty Fletcher, to give the team a chance to take a lead with less than two minutes to go.

It took Henderson just two throws – a 20-yard strike to sophomore Jer’Shard Benjamin before he went back to the well, finding Benjamin over the middle for a 14-yard score to for the lead.

“We kept telling the kids at halftime, especially on defense, just keep playing, keep playing,” South Fort Myers head coach Matt Holderfield said. “We knew the defense was going to have to make some plays, and I thought the defense made some good plays there and kind of forced the situation a little bit.

“Jer’Shard just made some great plays, Tenaris made some great plays there. (Henderson) threw some good balls, let them block a little bit and we got something done at the end.”

Defense dictated the contest early, and the Raiders got on the board first after Henderson fumbled a snap and Riverdale senior Ky’moni Gordon scooped it up and ran 30 yards for a touchdown.

South answered in the second quarter when Henderson uncorked a ball for a 33-yard touchdown to Aiden Boyd on fourth down.

The Raiders gained some separation before halftime with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by junior Josiah Bataille and a safety on a South punt to make it 17-6 at halftime.

The tide began to turn in the fourth quarter when mistakes starting piling up for the Raiders, who had been playing a clean ball game until then.

South senior Devontae Humphries blocked a punt at the beginning of the fourth quarter to set up the Wolfpack with a chance to score.

However, South could not cash in after a goal line fumble, recovered by Riverdale senior Kaleb McIntyre.

The Wolfpack defense never let up, continuing to give their offense chances. And once Henderson and his receivers got going, they were met with little resistance.

After Benjamin’s go-ahead touchdown, he sealed the game on defense with an interception of junior quarterback Terrance Taylor.

“We got to play four quarters,” Riverdale head coach Kendoll Gibson said. “We let that one slip in the last three minutes. It was tough. We kind of got away from what we were doing all night. We held Jaydon in check, and we kind of let him get in a rhythm the last four, five plays. We got to play four quarters. They’re too athletic not to finish.”

Chemistry in the trenches paid off in the final minutes. The offensive line gave Henderson time to make plays, while the defense came up with a clutch strip sack with two players sandwiching Riverdale junior quarterback Rayful Guest for a key turnover in the final two minutes.

“The good thing about our o-line and d-line is those guys have been together and they know each other and they know how to play with each other, and it definitely shows because they play hard together and they got a lot of experience there,” Holderfield said. “It’s just continuing to get better at what we’re doing.”

The Wolfpack could be without a couple important players next week. Boyd, a former Riverdale player, was ejected for a second unsportsmanlike penalty after his touchdown. Then, in the game’s final minutes, senior defensive lineman Ja’Dell Carter was assessed a second unsportsmanlike, leading to his ejection. The FHSAA will decide if the ejections should be upheld, which would lead to suspensions for both players in the team’s game against Gulf Coast next Thursday.

“We can’t do stupid things to hurt ourselves,” Holderfield said. “They got to understand if we’re going to be a playoff team and go deep in the playoffs, you got to be able to remove that emotion out of it and just play football.”

Don’t call the Wolfpack road warriors just yet. South went 4-2 on the road last season, including a fourth quarter comeback against Naples similar to the one on Thursday night.

Despite the 2-0 road record to start the season, Holderfield believes his squad has room to grow before hailing them as a team that travels well.

With seven road games this season, South will have plenty of chances to prove it.

“We’ve got to earn a couple more things like this before I can say that it’s us doing it, but I think we can get there,” he said.

The defense held South’s explosive offense in check for nearly the whole game. The Raiders limited the run game of Henderson, who only had two rushing attempts go for more than 10 yards. And several of South’s biggest plays didn’t come until the final three minutes.

“We let Jaydon get into a rhythm throwing the ball – something that we didn’t do all night,” Gibson said. “Our d-line was kind of gassed. We put them on the field back-to-back-to-back almost. We didn’t blitz and were kind of sitting back, and, if we don’t put pressure on Jaydon, he can find something.”

The Raiders erred after the Wolfpack made it a one score game. The team called two pass plays when they got the ball back, which eventually led to the pivotal sack fumble.

“Terrible decision from my end,” Gibson said. “Probably should’ve just ran the ball.”

The key to regrouping will be getting back to Riverdale football. The Raiders' schedule starts with seven playoff teams from last year, and the team will go on the road to play Bishop Verot next week.

“We’re going to play our style,” Gibson said. “We trust what we do. It sucks. I told our boys we should feel upset. We literally gave the game away in my eyes. I felt like we played the better game the entire game, but when you don’t finish four quarters, that’s what happens.”

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Thursday Football: South Fort Myers rallies to stun Riverdale