A grind-it-out game in the truest sense, River Hill narrowly escaped its first loss in more than a year, as the visiting Hawks defeated the Glenelg Gladiators 7-3 Friday night.
It was Hawks quarterback Drew Pritchard who connected with fellow senior and captain Cory Daniel for a 55-yard touchdown pass with just over three minutes remaining in the game that proved to be the difference.
"It was crazy," Daniel said. "This was a tough team. Glenelg is always a tough opponent against us, and we knew we had to win to get the season going."
Just a few plays earlier, Daniel thought he had a touchdown after a similar deep throw-and-catch from Pritchard. But, an illegal formation penalty brought back the score. River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen was proud that his team was able to rebound.
"It was a tough one," he said. "We had it open and he made a great play. I give our kids all the credit, it would have been easy to put their heads down after that."
Alex Paul's 22-yard field goal with just under seven minutes to play looked to be all Glenelg needed to knock off the defending 3A state champions before the go-ahead score.
"Our kids played hard, and I'm extremely proud of them," Glenelg coach Butch Schaffer said after the game. "They are a tremendous football program. We just made too many mistakes to win against a great team."
The Howard County foes traded possession after possession, with neither squad successfully reaching the red zone until late in the second half.
Senior Luke Cheswick led the Gladiators on defense with an interception and fumble recovery in the first half.