River View stunned on opening night

HEATH – Following a season of nail biters — including a 1-point victory over Bloom Carroll in the 2014 opener — Heath came out of Friday’s non-league game against visiting River View with a comfortable 42-0 victory at Swank Field.

A huge difference between Week 1 of last year versus this year is the healthy presence of junior quarterback Aaron Latiolais, who was sidelined by an injury the first two games of last season.

Latiolais posted the Bulldogs first score of the season with a 48-yard touchdown run, splitting then outrunning River View’s secondary on his way to the end zone. Adryn McCoy tacked on the 2-point conversion giving Heath the 8-0 lead with 7:35 left in the first quarter.

The second score came on the arm of Latiolais when he found Simon Romine wide open for a 56-yard touchdown that put Heath up 14-0.

On the Black Bear’s ensuing possession, Heath’s Kordell Wiley picked off Caden Croft on the final play of the first quarter to set up great field position for the Bulldogs.

That led to a quick three-play drive, capped off by a 4-yard touchdown run by Latiolais putting Heath up 21-0.

The fourth and final touchdown Latiolais had a part of was on a misdirection play to Avery Hogue who scored on the 31-yard catch.

Running backs McCoy and Brock Williams each had a rushing touchdown that contributed to Heath’s 42 points.

Latiolais finished the night with 150-yards rushing,105-yards passing and four total touchdowns.

“Obviously, we want to use him (Latiolais) a lot, but we really want to establish three or four other guys,” Heath coach Mark Collier said. “Williams and Lines looked especially good at the fullback position but we would like a little more production out of the tailback spot.”

Heath’s committee of backs combined for 82 of their total 232-yards rushing.

“If we have five weapons, we will be hard to defend,” Collier added. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

Led by second year head coach Bobby Forgrave, the Black Bears (0-1) turned the ball over three times and were only able to pass the ball for 24-yards.

River View gained 93-yards on the ground, with 41-yards coming from Casey Turnbull and fellow senior Zack Carroll adding 25.

“It’s definitely not just one spot we need to improve on,” Forgrave said. “We tried to throw the ball, but we just need to get better everywhere on offense.”

In addition to the three turnovers, Heath forced five punts and held the Riverview offense to 117-yards net.

“Our motto is simple, run the ball and stop the run,” Latiolais said.

Heath (1-0) will need to continue to do both if it wants to make a run at the Licking County League-Cardinal Division title. Its next two games are on the road at Highland, and then in week three they will open up LCL play at Granville. The Blue Aces beat the Bulldogs 21-12 last year.