Matt Vines

EAST POINT – After a forfeit to Claiborne Academy and a bye week, the Riverdale football team is healthy enough to take on Briarfield Academy and celebrate Homecoming.

The Rebels didn’t have enough healthy players to do battle with rival Claiborne, but the two weeks without a game has allowed enough injuries to heal to the point where 12 Rebels will don pads today.

The prospect of football was a question mark even into July as Riverdale rallied the troops to round up enough players to field a team.

The boys answered the call as Riverdale will celebrate Homecoming in traditional fashion.

“It’s Homecoming week. The atmosphere is different, and the energy is up,” said head coach Denver Williams. “We’ve had some strong practices this week, and I’m excited for our matchup this week.”

Williams said the Rebels were able to work more individually through the bye week as players continued to heal, something that they didn’t get much of a chance to do with just eight preseason practices.

“We focused on getting healthy and working on getting better individually,” Williams said. “The bye week gave us time to go back and learn a little more fundamental football.

“We came into the season with 12 players and picked up a junior and a senior through the season, so we do have a young team. With the injuries we’ve had, a lot of young players have gotten big minutes on the field.”

Williams emphasized the importance of the junior varsity team, who recorded a win against Lafayette County earlier this season. The JV boys, many of whom have big varsity roles, will take the field again Monday against Tensas.

The Rebels varsity team (0-7) is still looking for its first win and will face a traditionally strong Briarfield bunch that is typically one of the strongest eight-man squads in Louisiana.

Briarfield (5-3) has dropped the last two games amid offensive struggles in defeats of 24-6 to Prairie View and 20-0 to River Oaks, but the defense has flashed its strong play all season.

The Rebels did reel off five straight wins before that, including a 62-8 win against Tensas and 32-22 victory over Porter’s Chapel, both of whom played Riverdale this season.

That Tensas Academy (2-4) bunch just upset Claiborne Academy (5-2) this week.

Briarfield won last year’s matchup over Riverdale 54-0 and have won the last two meetings dating back to Riverdale’s victory in 2022.

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