The battle for American River Drive started Friday evening with the opening sprint when senior Stetson Wheeler of Jesuit High School took on Zack Reuter of Rio Americano High School at 7 p.m. This game marks the 51st anniversary of the epic cross-street rivalry between JHS and RAHS. The two teams battled fiercely  through four intense quarters of swimming, wrestling, and underwater punches to see who would come out on top.

JHS and RAHS began their pre-game warm-ups as they prepared for the battle to come. The varsity team for JHS met in the middle of the pool as they conducted their team prayer and cheer. The two teams then lined up on the goal lines awaiting the blow of the whistle from the referee, announcing the commencement of the opening sprint to start the game.

The game had an upbeat start as Stetson Wheeler beat Zack the sprint which led to sophomore Josh Orrick scoring the first goal of the game.  The Marauder’s continued their streak with  seniors Will Peterson and Nick Giancanelli  scoring the second and third goals for JHS. The most notable goal for JHS was senior Will Beckwith’s ricochet goal. Beckwith took a shot on goal, that bounced  off the top bar of the goal and off the goalie’s head into the goal for the fourth goal of the game as JHS  led RAHS 4-0 in the first minutes of play. RAHS retaliated with freshman Aiden Jang and sophomore Michael Burgess scoring two goals to end the first quarter with a score of 4-2.

Second quarter started with Stetson winning the sprint, getting the ball to Will Peterson to score the fifth goal for JHS. Edward Smet took and scored a penalty shot putting JHS ahead 6-2. Will Peterson gets a penalty ejection, but RAHS does not capitalize on the power play. Edward scores the final goal of the first half bringing the second half to an end with the score 7-2, JHS leading.

With JHS leading the first half, the coaches took the halftime break to speak inspirational words to their players as they prepare for the second half of the game to finish their battle for American River Drive. The teams lined up again at the goal lines to start the second half of the game.

Second half led off with Stetson taking on Zack in the second half sprint with Stetson winning. Josh got the ball, shooting and scoring JHS’ eighth goal. Rio immediately retaliated as freshman Cole Dixon scored RAHS’ third goal. Josh got an ejection, but RAHS failed to score on the power play. Senior Ian Brady of RAHS gets his third and final ejection as he is majored from the game and not eligible to play the remainder. Will Peterson capitalized on power play scoring JHS’ ninth goal. Will Peterson scored on a power play, but Zack scores RAHS’ fourth goal bringing the score to 10-4 at end of third quarter.

Stetson led the fourth and final sprint with a victory as the ball found its way to Edward’s hands then to the goal for JHS’ eleventh goal. Will Beckwith got ejected, but RAHS fails to follow through with the power play as senior goalie Max Merchant blocks the shot on goal. Freshman Luke Chandler of JHS scored the twelfth goal, and Edward scored the thirteenth goal for JHS. Senior Chris Perry of RAHS gets ejected leading Edward to score on a power play. Senior Reginald Camacho of JHS got ejected with RAHS failing to commit to the power play. RAHS got the ball back as Ty Pena scored their fifth goal. Senior Ryan Neil scored the games final goal which brought the score 15-5.

At the end of the game, JHS showed RAHS why they deserve the title of “Kings of American River Drive” JHS defeated  RAHS 15-5. The players for JHS then shook hands with the players of RAHS, and walked off the pool deck victorious.