Mayfield established a strong passing game in the first half against Riverside on Oct. 18. But the Wildcats’ passing game struggled out of the break. An Ethan Baker interception created a short field for Riverside to take the lead. But Mayfield’s defense flipped the script. Jon Harris had an interception and while it didn’t result in a score, it flipped the field for the remainder of the contest. Late in the fourth, AJ Rogers found Max Thurman on fourth down to get the Wildcats in the red zone. Rogers punched it in with 56 seconds left to put the Wildcats back on top and the defense forced a turnover on downs for them to take a 21-17 victory. Mayfield (4-5) gave up an early score as Kyndall McCaleb broke off a 75-yard score on Riverside’s second play from scrimmage. The Wildcats punted on their first possession but got the ball right back as Jack Elliot had an interception on Riverside’s first play. The Wildcats had faith in the passing game early as Rogers completed five of his first six passes in the contest. “Max has been this close the past two games to coming up big,” Rogers said. “We knew it was bound to happen, and we talked about it in practice. He’s a baller.” Rogers finished the game 11-for-28 with 205 yards. A completion to Ben Koret got the Wildcats down to the 2, and Koret punched it in to tie the game. Riverside (4-5) then composed a 16-play drive, which started at its own 7. While the ground game got them in the red zone, the Beavers settled for a Leo D’Astolfo field goal. Then Mayfield’s offense went to work. Rogers found Thurman twice for chunk gains, one for 47 yards and another for 11. The latter set the Wildcats up at the 1, and Rogers punched it in for the halftime lead. Thurman knew that getting open would be a challenge with a talented Riverside defense but he loves a good challenge. “I studied the film a lot,” Thurman said. “They game me the exact same look and I ran the routes that I had in my head. Getting open against them was going to be a challenge so I needed to execute on the routes.” He finished with four catches for 104 yards. But the Wildcats’ passing offense went cold to start the second half. Rogers missed on six of his first eight attempts. Coach Ross Bandiera knew the passing game would rekindle soon — they just needed to trust it. “Everything was there all night. We just couldn’t convert,” Bandiera said. “It was frustrating. We had guys open but couldn’t hit them. AJ stuck with it and he wanted the ball. That shows the kind of player he is, you get down and frustrated but it’s a long game.” Baker tried to be the back breaker to that trust with an interception late in the third quarter that had the Beavers deep in Mayfield territory. Donovan Conwell had a big gain that set them up inside the five and McCaleb punched it in from two yards out for his second score. He finished with 149 yards on 20 carries. After a three and out from Mayfield, the Wildcats turned to the defense. On second and long, Harris had his interception that flipped the field. While the change in field possession lasted the rest of the contest, Mayfield couldn’t capitalize on it at first. Two drives later, the Wildcats started on their own 48 with just under six minutes left. On fourth-and-eight, Rogers dropped back and found Thurman on a curl. He shed some tacklers and had the Wildcats inside the 15-yard line. “I heard the route called. I had run post all day and knew the curl was going to be there,” Thurman said. “I hit the curl, looked back for the ball, saw the defender there and got in front of him. Caught the ball made a move and got the first down.” Rogers added: “I asked the coaches what they wanted in the situation. Max found a way to get open and took a hit. But he bounced off of it, kept going and got a few more yards. The offensive line and defense really made that possible for us.” Rogers would run it in from two yards out four plays later and put Mayfield back on top. Now the pressure was on the defense. They had held Riverside to 89 yards in the second half and only three plays of 10 or more yards. They forced three straight incompletions and a Riverside fourth-down attempt was thwarted for the upset to be complete. Elliot knew the defense had to limit the chunk plays for Riverside and outside of the McCaleb score in the first quarter, he knew it was mission accomplished. “We just had to adapt,” Elliot said. “We weren’t expecting that big pop of a run early. But that’s the grit of this team. AJ said it in week two, we don’t give up. We’re a family and adapt as a unit.” Week 10 holds strong merit for both sides with playoff seeding in the balance. Riverside hosts Chardon while Mayfield hosts South, both games are on Oct. 25. THE SCORE Mayfield 21, Riverside 17