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River Ridge enjoys better depth this spring

 
River Ridge High School wide receiver Mikey Roussos (5) runs the ball in the third quarter against Nature Coast High School at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey, Fla. on Friday, November 18, 2016.
River Ridge High School wide receiver Mikey Roussos (5) runs the ball in the third quarter against Nature Coast High School at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey, Fla. on Friday, November 18, 2016.
Published May 16, 2017

NEW PORT RICHEY — River Ridge's football team, famous for strength in not-so-great numbers and district champs three years running, won't be put off by something like a scary brush fire.

Okay, maybe they were put off a little bit, one day.

"Monday morning was pretty chaotic. The smoke was pretty thick," said coach Ryan Benjamin, of the worst of the days last week that saw River Ridge alter its practices from afternoons to the early evenings.

"Sometimes life throws you a curveball. The kids adapted really well. We just faced a little adversity, overcame it and had a great week of practice."

Sure didn't seem to bother the Knights players.

"Sleeping in? It's great! It wasn't really a big deal. We just came in later and started later," said WR/CB Mikey Roussos.

The Knights have become a pretty well-oiled machine. And don't look now but there's actually some extra horsepower. Benjamin says the roster that sat at 20 — a number that caught up to the Knights in their region final 39-17 defeat to Clay — is almost double that amount.

That should be of concern to River Ridge's Pasco County opponents, who have seen the Knights go 29-7 over the past three seasons.

"That'll be different for us. We actually have a little bit of depth," Benjamin said.

It's been helped by two Fivay transfers, Jason Utteg and Bryce Smith, the Falcons' leading rusher and all-purpose guy respectively as juniors. Anthony Kendall, a corner, has transferred in from Anclote.

"They've really impacted us well. They have good work ethic, so they should be a good part of our team," Roussos said.

There are some key pieces missing, most prominently the starting quarterback/safety Trevor Hawks. Fortunately the Hawks pipeline has two more members, with younger brother Travis now on the varsity roster and Trenton looming as a middle school quarterback.

D.J. Mann and Devin Gallo are squaring off for starting QB duties.

The Knights, as is their custom, play a tough preseason schedule which extends to the spring game. East Lake comes to River Ridge on Friday.