MODESTO — River Islands wrapped up regular-season play with an impressive 14-0 victory over a Big Valley Christian team that had given the Riptide fits since the program started playing varsity football in 2024.

“This one just meant more to us,” River Islands quarterback Daryl Carpenter said. “We remember what happened here last year when we played a close game, and we remember when they blew us out two years ago. Those losses should not have happened, and it felt good to get one back on them tonight.”

Carpenter and the Riptide (4-2 Mother Lode League, 8-2 overall) came into Friday’s contest having played 10 straight weeks, as the team will finally get its bye next week while most teams wrap up the regular season.

Both River Islands and Big Valley Christian (3-2, 6-2) came into the contest fresh off of losses to Linden.

“I knew we would get good effort coming out here tonight,” River Islands head coach Nick Kendall said. “Last week got away from us, but we had a good week of practice, and a lot of these guys got a chance to give some payback back to a team that has caused us trouble the last couple years.”

Possessions were scarce in the game, with each team getting the ball just twice and sustaining long drives each time. Big Valley received the opening kickoff and chewed up seven minutes of clock on a nine-play drive that ended when the Riptide forced a fumble from Lions’ leading rusher Ben Kirchner (23 carries, 101 yards) that was recovered by two-way standout Dominic Manzanares to give River Islands the ball at its own 9-yard line.

“Credit to our linebackers, they really blew up that play,” Manzanares said. “We were giving up some chunk yards to them, but we dug deep to come up with a big play there to keep them off of the board. We knew our offense would put up points so stops were going to be the difference in the game.”

In what would be a theme on the night, Carpenter (21 for 30, 236 yards) helped his offense overcome self-inflicted wounds in the form of penalties costing the Riptide crucial yards. Carpenter capped a 16-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that took up almost nine minutes of game time when he found receiver Darien East (four catches, 81 yards) from 38 yards out to put the visitors up 7-0 early in the second quarter.

“The penalties hurt us tonight,” Carpenter said. “We could have put up even more points without them, but I was proud of the way we fought. Credit to my receivers, they worked hard to get open all night long.”

The senior came into the regular season finale leading the Sac Joaquin Section in passing yards and spread the ball around to six different receivers in what has become a deep River Islands receiving core loaded with weapons.

The Riptide offense was on full display late in the second quarter when after getting the ball back with just 1:38 left in the half, Carpenter orchestrated an 82-yard drive capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass to receiver Michael Figueroa (seven catches, 46 yards) to put River Islands up 14-0 going into the half.

“We can control the ball and the clock when we need to, but you really saw why 12 (Carpenter) is my guy there late in the half,” Kendall said. “He managed the clock well and worked the progressions we’ve taught him. It was so nice to see the long conversations and back and forth we have about those situations pay off.”

Spotted a 14-0 lead by the offense, the River Islands defense went to work in the second half, keeping a Big Valley offense that is not built to play from behind off of the scoreboard. The first three Lions’ possessions after the break ended in a turnover on downs, before the final back-breaker from the Riptide came with less than a minute left when cornerback Adrian Villarreal intercepted Big Valley quarterback Travis Lema to clinch it for the visitors.

“The long workouts all of the meetings they all paid off tonight,” Manzanares said. “We knew coming in here we could shut them out and we accomplished that goal.”

River Islands has likely clinched its first postseason berth in program history, and will now wait a week before it learns its’ playoff fate.

“This means so much to these kids accomplishing something we set out to achieve,” Kendall said. “This week off couldn’t come at a better time we’ll look to get healthy and try to clean up some of the mistakes in practice and hopefully make a run at this thing.”