Court connection carries over to football field as Red Knights upset Red Lion

By Hunter Phillips — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Amier Burdine and Ruben Rodriguez have connected on the basketball court for years. Now they’re doing it on the football field.

They connected four times in Reading High’s 42-35 non-league win over Red Lion Friday at Shirk Stadium, with Rodriguez pulling in three touchdowns.

“I can throw it up to him, and trust him to go get it,” Burdine said.

Rodriguez, a senior with a basketball scholarship to Rider University, had scoring catches of 15, 21 and 25 yards.

Red Lion (2-1) led 14-0 after a quarter and was up a point at halftime. The Red Knights (2-1) didn’t take their first lead until Alexis Alvardo’s two-point conversion run late in the third quarter, following Rodriguez’s third TD catch.

Alvarado ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, pushing Reading’s lead to 42-27 with 4:15 remaining.

The Red Knights had a mistake-riddled first quarter-and-a-half before they got things going against the favored Lions.

Burdine provided the spark. He topped his stunning performance from last week with another huge game, rushing for 113 yards and passing for 147.

His total of 147 topped last week’s passing yards mark of 55 by 92 yards.

“I knew they were gonna play my run, so I just had to be able to throw to my receivers,” said Burdine, who connected eight times with four different receivers.

Even with the proficient connection, it was Reading’s defense and special teams that gift-wrapped the win.

The most important play of the game happened to be the last of the first half when defensive lineman Karim Martinez scooped up a fumble by quarterback Mason Hollingshead and took it 44 yards for a touchdown.

As the defense came up big time and time again, it left the offense in prime position to take advantage. Xaiver Beaty’s fumble recovery late in the third quarter set up another Reading touchdown. 

A special team’s gamble led to the Red Knights recovering an onside kick, putting the offense in yet another prime position to score.

It was a high-risk move going for the onside kick up only a score early in the fourth quarter. But the reward was worth it.

“It just felt like the right time, ” said first-year Reading High coach Troy Godinet.

It’s clear something good is brewing inside of the Red Knights locker room. The team gets along well, the kids love playing with one another, playing for their coaches, and playing for the city, Godinet said.

For a program that has struggled in recent years it’s exciting to watch them band together, Godinet noted.

“As long as I’ve been here, I’ve never seen a group come back like that,” he said.

 

	1	2	3	4	Final
Red Lion	14	7	7	8	35
Reading High	0	20	8	14	42

Scoring summary

1	Red Lion	Strausbaugh, 96  kickoff return (Coppersmith kick)	11:40
1	Red Lion	Deisley, 7 run (Coppersmith kick)	2:54
2	Reading	Rodriguez, 15 pass from Burdine (Alvarado rush failed)	11:06
2	Red Lion	Coppersmith, 16 pass from (Coppersmith kick)	6:16
2	Reading	Rodriguez, 21 pass from Burdine (pass failed)	00:29
2	Reading	Martinez, 44 fumble return (Rodriguez, pass from Burdine)	00:00
3	Red Lion	Strausbaugh, 25 run (kick failed)	7:09
3	Reading	Rodriguez, 25 pass from Burdine (Alvarado run)	3:26
4	Reading	Alvarado, 7 run (Alvarado run)
4	Reading	Alvarado, 4 run (run failed)	4:15
4	Red Lion	7 run (run)	2:31

Team statistics

	Red Lion	Reading High
First downs	21	22
Rushes-yards	32-244	39-260
Passing yards	47	147
Total yards	291	407
Passes	5-13	8-18
Fumbles-lost	2-2	2-1
Punts-average	3-31	2-36
Penalties-yards	5-50	12-75

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Red Lion: Strausbaugh 20-132, Hollingshead 9-84, name unavailable 2-23, Desily 1-5.

Reading High: Burdine 15-113, Alvarado 12-85, Small 12-62.

PASSING

Red Lion: Hollingshead 5-13-1–47.

Reading High: Burdine 8-18-1–147.

RECEIVING

Red Lion: Rentzel 2-13, Strausbaugh 1-8, Coppersmith 1-16, Miller 1-10.

Reading High: Rodriguez 5-85, Samuel 1-27 Philistin 1-23, Orbe 1-12

INTERCEPTIONS

Reading High: Philistin.