By Brad Greer

As the River Oaks football team loaded onto a pair of yellow school busses for the long four-hour trek back to Monroe, La., the thoughts of what green freight train had hit them some two hours earlier must have gone through their minds.

Unlike last year’s 29-27 victory by the Mustangs over North Delta, Friday night’s MAIS North AA semi-final contest was basically over before it started, as host Green Wave scored on all six possessions in the first half on their way to a 41-7 thrashing of River Oaks to advance to the North State championship game where they will host district foe Marshall in a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The 2000 State Championship team will be honored at halftime.

Marshall punched its ticket to its second straight North State title game with a 20-15 win over Indianola in the other semi-final round matchup.

How dominant was North Delta’s performance? Consider the fact River Oaks crossed midfield only four times during the game, one of which came as the Mustangs recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff at the Green Wave 40-yard line. North Delta outgained River Oaks 295-87 in total yardage in the first half and punted only twice the entire game.

The outcome of the victory surprised even one Green Wave player.

“We knew River Oaks had a good ball team so we were preparing for a battle out there but we did not think it would be this easy. We have practiced hard all week and it paid off tonight,” said senior linebacker Will Magee. ”Just like last week, the defense set the tone early and forced some turnovers that set up our offense in good field position.

“Everybody wants to be playing their best football of the year and I feel like we have hit our stride as a team and if we come out and play ball the way we have the past two weeks, we are going to be tough to beat,” said Magee, who registered three tackles including a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on the same play.

After holding River Oaks to three-and-out on the opening possession, the Green Wave offensive unit went to work as Austin Hagstrom capped off a five-play, 51-yard drive with a six-yard scoring run to give North Delta a 7-0 lead as William Dean added the point after.

Things went downhill from for River Oaks as Alex Biedenharn coughed up the following kickoff at the Mustang 17-yard line. North Delta took advantage of the mistake as Tyler Pirtle scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns on a seven-yard run for a 14-0 Green Wave lead following Dean’s successful PAT.
Pirtle, whose 175-yard rushing performance pushed the senior quarterback over the 1,000-yard barrier for the second straight year, made the score 21-0 on the next series with an 84-yard scamper.

North Delta (10-2) poured it on in the second quarter by scoring three more touchdowns to take a 41-0 score into the locker room. Hagstrom added his second touchdown run of the night with a four-yard run to cap off an 85-yard drive that took 3:30 off the clock. Taylor Morris’ 50-yard sprint to the Mustang 20 keyed the series.

Following Brett Herrington’s fumble recovery at the Mustang 29, the Green Wave drove to the five-yard line where Pirtle hit Chase Coker on a quick slant pattern for a touchdown. A botched hold on the point after resulted in a failed attempt leaving the score 34-0 with 5:01 remaining in the half.

Morris put the finishing touches on the game with a 10-yard scamper with 58 seconds left in the half. Morris ended the night with 75 yards on eight carries. River Oaks threatened to put its first points on the board in the closing seconds of the first half by driving to the Green Wave 15 only to have Dean break up a pass in the end zone.

The Mustangs avoided the shutout with 2:46 left in the game as Brendan MacGregor connected with Trace Houston on a two-yard touchdown pass with Jordan Sutton tacking on the PAT.

“First of all I want to give credit to their coaching staff, they do a fine job and they have got some fine football players,” said North Delta head coach Brandon Ciaramitaro. “But when a team has a chip on their shoulders like our guys did and they are relentless and have a will to win in the worse way, its easy for a coaching staff to get guys ready to play. Our guys are doing that and that is were we need to be.”

North Delta rolled up 405 yards of total offense while holding River Oaks to 195 yards. The Green Wave chewed up 305 rushing on the night as Hagstrom followed Pirtle and Morris with nine carries for 32 yards but led the Wave in receiving with three catches for 61 yards.

Coker also reeled in three receptions for 31 yards while Sam Copeland had one catch for 11 yards. Pirtle ended the night with 7-of-10 passing for 103 yards.

Baker West chipped in with three carries for 14 yards while Bailey Sullivant had two carries for two yards.

Bradley Booth and Dean led the North Delta defensive charge with five tackles each. Booth also recorded a fumble recovery and a quarterback sack. Hunter Pitcher added four tackles while Magee and Parker Jones contributed with three stops.

Biedenharn led River Oaks in rushing with 111 yards on 19 carries.