Instead of a climactic league matchup to end the regular season, the Toledo football team found itself bussing all the way to 1A Stevenson on Friday, but the Riverhawks made the trip down the Columbia worth it with a 48-28 non-league win.
“Just a hard fought game,” Toledo coach Mike Christensen said. “It’s a long drive and good playoff warm-up for us. We’ve got to go into next week understanding that it could be our last week of football, so we’ve got to be focused all week long.”
The Riverhawks (6-2, 2-2 C2B South) led 7-6 after a quarter of play, but took off with three touchdowns in the second quarter to roll into the locker room with a 28-6 advantage.
Three of Toledo’s four first-half touchdowns came courtesy of sophomore quarterback Eli Weeks, who ran in two — and added a third in the third quarter — and hit Trevin Gale for a 52-yard passing score.
Weeks threw the ball five times, and all of them were caught — two by Gale, two by Adam Kruger, and one by the Stevenson defense for an interception, the one blight on his night.
“We were able to do pretty much what we wanted offensively, " Christensen said. “Only fumbles and turnovers stopped us. Really good job up front blocking.”
Ethen Carver took the ball 22 times for 177 yards on the ground, hitting paydirt once. Weeks only got 30 rushing yards, but found the end zone thrice.
“Carver did the heavy work, and Eli finished it off,” Christensen said.
Jake Neft added 53 yards and six points, and Nathan Beaver also scored a touchdown.
All together, Toledo ran for 297 yards, and gained 416 total yards.
On defense, the Riverhawks recorded two takeaways, with Rohan Feigenbaum coming down with an interception and Bayron Rodriguez recovering a fumble.
Toledo will head west for its district crossover next Friday, going to Raymond-South Bend to play for a spot in the 2B state tournament.
