Matt Vines

SAINT JOSEPH – Riverdale remembers the sting, the hurt, the loss.

The Rebels thought they had scored the game-tying touchdown when Ashton Almond darted for the end zone late in the fourth quarter, setting up a potential game-winning two-point conversion.

A controversial holding penalty wiped out that score and sealed Tensas Academy’s 36-30 in East Point this past season, a golden opportunity to snap what has turned into a 13-game losing streak dating back to the 2024 playoff loss.

Almond and that large senior class aren’t wearing Riverdale red anymore, but the players left will aim to soothe that ache and snap the losing streak when the Rebels head to Tensas Academy on Friday.

“We competed with them last year,” said Denver Williams, a first-year head coach who was an assistant on last year’s staff. “With their numbers and ours, it’ll be a very competitive game.

“We’ll need to contain the outside and let our linebackers make players in the hole. That’ll be key in stopping them.”

Riverdale (0-3) is making improvements after limited offseason and preseason work because of low numbers.

The Rebels pieced together a 12-man team to play 8-man football, and Tensas Academy also isn’t immune to small roster size and player shortage.

Tensas Academy is the only football team left in Tensas Parish, the least populated parish in the state with about 3,700 in the 2025.

It’s the first parish without public school football after Tensas High discontinued their football program after the 2024 season because of low enrollment and lack of players.

Red River Parish knows the challenges of population loss as estimates sit around 7,100, the fourth-least populated parish.

But the football field is no place for talk of population decline or economic inflation impacting school enrollments.

Riverdale (0-3) and Tensas (0-3) are just trying to claw their way to their first wins of the season.

The Chiefs came close in a 14-6 loss to Franklin Academy, scoring first on a Tobin Matthews 86-yard run on the first play of the game but not able to add after that.

Riverdale’s three-game schedule so far might be the toughest among MAIS Louisiana teams with losses to Wilkinson County Christian, River Oaks and a Class 2A public school out of Arkansas (Lafayette County).

WCCA went undefeated in the 2025 regular season and River Oaks is the reigning champions in MAIS Class 2A.

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