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<p><strong>MAULDIN </strong>| Riverside coach Matthew Rochester admitted he was a little nervous starting a sophomore quarterback who'd never taken a varsity snap in the Warriors' season opener at Mauldin's Freeman Field Friday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='463113' first='Gideon' last='Merhib']</strong> quickly put Rochester's mind at ease.</p>
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<p>Merhib (pictured) accounted for 251 of Riverside's 321 yards of total offense in the first half as the Warriors built a two touchdown lead and went on to a 39-20 victory. While Riverside's opening possession ended on a fourth down sack in Mauldin's red zone, Merhib set the tone for his night right off the bat. He completed a 13-yard pass on the first play of the game and ran for 17 yards two plays later.</p>
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<p>"That first time on the varsity level, you never know how they're going to respond. I think he responded well," Rochester said. "He was very smart with his body and with the football. A couple of times he made a good call to throw the ball away and just give us another chance to go make a play."</p>
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<p>Of course it helps any quarterback to have weapons like University of Cincinnati commit <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1012616' first='Mikkel' last='Skinner']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1025814' first='Jaiden' last='Taylor']</strong> to throw to.</p>
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<p>The Warriors' first score was set up by Taylor, when he took a jet sweep handoff and showed everyone why they call him "Speedy." He raced 35 yards to the Mauldin 18-yard line. On the next play, Merhib scrambled for a touchdown.</p>
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<p>The Mavericks lost a fumble on the first play of their ensuing possession and Riverside made them pay for it. On the next play from scrimmage, Merhib hit Taylor down the left sideline for a 30-yard gain to the 10-yard line. Three plays later, Merhib found <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1575314' first='Israel' last='Leamon']</strong> in the end zone for a one-yard touchdown to push the lead to 13-0.</p>
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<p>On the final play of the first quarter, Mauldin quarterback <strong>Reddick Langston</strong> connected with <strong>Devon Wilson</strong> for a 57-yard gain. Three plays later, <strong>Nemo Floyd</strong> got the Mavs on the board with a nine-yard touchdown run.</p>
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<p>Merhib and Taylor had the longest answer of the night two plays later. Merhib fired a deep ball over the middle to Taylor, who caught it in stride and left defenders behind for an 81-yard touchdown.</p>
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<p>"Jaiden's insane," Merhib said with a laugh. "(On the long touchdown) We knew they were going to double team (Mikkel), so we just went backside to Jaiden and let him be the athlete that he normally is every day. I knew he was going to break that one."</p>
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<p>Floyd ran the ball on each of Mauldin's last five plays of its next drive. The last carry resulted in a one-yard touchdown to cut Riverside's lead to 20-14 with 3:10 remaining in the half.</p>
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<p>Having pulled within six and knowing it would get the ball to start the second half, a stop by Mauldin's defense on the next possession could've given the team a lot of momentum going into halftime. That appeared to be happening when Merhib's fourth down pass fell incomplete, but a roughing the passer penalty - one of several personal fouls by both teams Friday - extended the drive.</p>
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<p>That felt like it could be a huge play in the game and a few plays later, it was. On fourth-and-10, Merhib threw to Skinner for a 14-yard gain. That was Merhib's only completion out of eight throws on that drive, but it was the most important throw. Unfazed by the incompletions, Merhib ran for 42 yards on the drive. That pass to Skinner set up a nine-yard touchdown run by <strong>Zy Abercrombie</strong> with 6.6 seconds left to give Riverside a 27-14 lead at the break.</p>
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<p>"I think two of those incompletions were throw aways to keep us in that drive, and that's big coming from a young quarterback," Rochester said. "It was a huge drive."</p>
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<p>In the first half, Merhib threw for 168 yards on 10-of-19 passing with no interceptions. He also ran for 83 yards on eight carries. In a somewhat sloppy, penalty-riddled second half for both teams, Merhib threw for two more scores and finished with 294 yards (217 passing, 77 rushing) of total offense. Taylor ended up with 138 yards receiving on four catches.</p>
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<p>Senior linebacker <strong>Sha'Rod Williams</strong> and senior cornerback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1573976' first='Spencer' last='Adderley']</strong> helped Riverside's defense rule the second half. Williams' fumble recovery late in the third quarter set up a 16-yard touchdown from Merhib to Skinner on the next play. Williams' third-down sack in the fourth quarter helped set up the Warriors' final scoring drive, which Merhib capped with a 19-yard touchdown pass to <strong>Connor Sobolewski</strong> on fourth down to push the lead to 39-14.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, Adderley seemed to be the lead tackler in most of Mauldin's 10 negative plays on offense.</p>
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<p>"On defense, we're always ready to play as a team and be as physical as we can. Our goal is to rally to the ball with all 11 men and hope they can't take the physicality for four quarters," Adderley said. "But you've got to stay disciplined because penalties can cost you a game. We had a lot tonight and we've got to stamp that out next week."</p>
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<p>The Mavs' lone score after halftime came on a three-yard fumble return for a touchdown by defensive lineman <strong>AJ Norfus</strong> with 1:28 left in the game.</p>
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<p>Floyd finished with 79 yards rushing on 17 carries for Mauldin. Langston completed 8-of-11 passes for 132 yards with no interceptions. He also ran for 45 yards on 13 attempts before leaving early in the fourth quarter with severe leg cramps.</p>
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MAULDIN | Riverside coach Matthew Rochester admitted he was a little nervous starting a sophomore quarterback who'd never taken a varsity snap in the Warriors' season opener at Mauldin's Freeman Field Friday night. Gideon MerhibGideonMerhib
6'1" | 170 lbs | QB Riverside | 2027StateSC quickly put Rochester's mind at ease.