Riverdale revamped: How the Raiders football team is emerging as one of SW Florida's best

Riverdale revamped: How the Raiders football team is emerging as one of SW Florida’s best

Posted by Admin October 31, 2024 Football

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Dust and machinery envelop the Riverdale High School campus as it undergoes a major facelift.

With completion slated for August 2025, the school’s $108.7 million renovation project includes a full restoration of the school’s plumbing, air conditioning and sprinkler systems as well as a new STEM wing and gymnasium with a locker room and weight room.

On Friday nights, cars navigate the rubble and pack into the new parking lot by the football stadium. There is more for Raiders fans to cheer for than in recent years as the end zone fireworks light up the sky to match the dazzling plays on the field.

Riverdale will host Lehigh in the annual Battle of the Bell game on Friday, and the 7-1 Raiders squad will have a chance to take the trophy home for the first time in six years. Riverdale will close out the regular season facing Fort Myers, and a win would secure the district championship in Class 5A-11.

Firmly in the driver’s seat, the Raiders have managed to steer themselves into this position after winning just two games a season ago.

“Honestly, when we just started locking in and getting in the weight room, I knew we had the talent,” head coach Kendoll Gibson said. “They just had to get into a system to get into a real program, a real culture. I knew, with the talent we had, once we locked them in and got them focused on what it takes to be successful, I knew it’d happen.”

As an afternoon practice wrapped up on Gibson’s birthday, the team serenaded their second-year head coach with “Happy Birthday” as they geared up for this all-important final stretch of the regular season.

In the next two weeks, the Raiders have a chance to give Gibson an unforgettable birthday gift.

Gibson shifts the culture for Riverdale football

Since going undefeated in the 2018 regular season, Riverdale won just 14 games over the next five years.

Gibson was promoted to be the team’s third head coach in three years ahead of the 2023 season.

An East Lee graduate who spent time on the coaching staff at South Fort Myers under Willis May, Gibson quickly became a popular locker-room figure at Riverdale.

“The kids loved him,” May said of Gibson’s time at South. “His passion – he loved the game. He took our OL and took them as his.”

His first season was a learning experience. Gibson said he watched back film on last year’s games to see what he could have done differently.

“Some things you don’t know until you actually get out there,” he said.

One undeniable bright spot of that Riverdale team was the rushing attack.

The team’s mighty offensive line opened holes for running back Cole Hayes, who piled up 1,621 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on 231 carries in a breakout season.

With much of that roster returning, including Hayes entering his senior season, Riverdale spent the offseason focused on getter better and stronger.

“We knew we had the ability to be great, and 2-8 last season – we knew that wasn’t us,” Hayes said. “We worked all offseason and came in with a different mindset.”

Establishing that standard came from the top.

“He’s not trying to win just one season and have one deep playoff run,” Hayes said of Gibson. “He wants to keep it going, he wants to get more people in. He expects leadership from all the older guys, and he wants to build a good program.”

Corey May, described by Gibson as his “road dog,” returned as defensive coordinator to lead a young group that returned 10 of their 11 starters.

May’s father, Willis May, stepped down as head coach at South Fort Myers after five seasons to run the Riverdale offense.

Gibson described May’s leadership from their time together at South as formative.

“His energy and what he brings to football – I’ve been able to learn so much,” Gibson said. “Even when running my own program, I called him every day. I stole a lot of stuff from him. He’s just a good dude. I love him, and he’s great mentor. I’m glad he’s on my team, on my side.”

The collective level of dedication was bound to lead to more success for the Raiders.

“(Gibson is) establishing a culture, and everybody knows where they’re supposed to be, what they’re supposed to be doing, when they’re supposed to be doing it, and they’re all buying into it,” Corey May said. “I think if you can establish a good culture like he is, then that’s when the winning comes.”

Gibson on Cole Hayes: ‘The heartbeat of our team’

Watch: Riverdale’s Cole Hayes erupts for 5 TDs against Cypress Lake

Hayes finished the game with 26 carries for 310 yards and 5 scores, helping the Raiders defeat the Panthers 43-27 on Sept. 20, 2024.

A coach’s worst nightmare unfolded during the Raiders’ spring game against Lely this year.

On his first carry, Hayes broke a run outside and was tackled by the ankle ahead of the goal line. He landed on his shoulder and broke his collarbone.

Hayes underwent surgery the next day, but it wasn’t physical pain that Hayes carried with him.

“It was more of a mental challenge for me because I put in a lot of work that spring,” he said. “In that offseason, between the fall and spring, I probably put on 15-20 pounds and just to lose all of that progress going into the summer, it was really tough on me mentally just thinking I had to redo it all again.”

Gibson knew the team would miss not just the production on the field but what Hayes represented in the locker room.

“The heartbeat of our team, our leader, our everything,” Gibson said.

The offseason saw more reps for his backup, junior Lovensky Blanchard, but Hayes made sure to stay present during summer workouts.

“He was motivated,” Gibson said. “He was already a hard worker, but I don’t think anything would’ve kept him out of not playing his senior year. He was just in a zone that I can’t even explain. He was here every day with the trainer, and he was grinding.”

Hayes was able to suit up for the team’s Week 1 matchup against Estero, and with May running a more diversified offense, the run game demolished everyone in their path. Hayes proved he was fully back in the groove when he posted back-to-back five-touchdown performances in wins against Cypress Lake and East Lee County.

The team won its first six games behind their powerful rushing attack before hitting a stumbling block when they fell to Cape Coral in their first game after Hurricane Milton.

The Raiders rebounded last week with a crucial district win against North Fort Myers. Trailing at halftime, Hayes couldn’t be stopped as he rushed for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns to help Riverdale to a 32-22 victory.

Hayes has gone for 1,261 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns this season, while Blanchard has added 856 yards and five touchdowns.

Blanchard’s powerful downfield running has him averaging more than 10 yards a carry, while Hayes’ determination often leaves a string of broken tackles in his wake. The duo is known as “salt and pepper.”

“One does one thing, one does the other, but you want both of them,” Gibson explained.

The offensive line of Sebastian Diaz, Luke Livingston, Kris Ralston, Jeffery Bueno and the towering tackle Cole Cooke have bullied opponents and opened holes for the backs all season.

“They’re nasty man,” Gibson said. “And they just don’t quit. I’m a lineman myself so I preach on, ‘We can’t win games without you guys.’”

Father-son coordinators, Willis and Corey May, reunited

Corey May joked that he bribed his father to join the Riverdale staff when his daughter was born this year.

The desire to spend more time with his family was one of the main reasons Willis May decided to make the change.

“I knew I’d be able to see my granddaughter more if I was here,” he said.

Having a shorter commute and wanting to get back to purely coaching Xs and Os also influenced his decision, but the Mays’ sideline connection was a significant factor.

“Even when we may not be happy with what the other did, we still love one another and know that each other’s trying their best to do the best job possible,” Willis May said. “So that makes it a lot easier. I don’t have to worry about him being mad at me.”

The West Virginia natives quickly re-established the chemistry that has led to success whenever they share the sideline.

Willis May coached Corey at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and, after playing college at Florida Atlantic, Corey joined his father on the Eagles’ staff. Corey followed his father to South when he took the head coaching job in 2019.

“I know what he’s calling and he knows what I’m calling,” Corey May said. “I think we kind of work well together because maybe he can give me a different side that I don’t see. Maybe I can give him a side that he doesn’t see to try to kind of help each other.”

With the eye-popping numbers of the offense, Corey May’s work with the defense has gone under the radar. However, that group has been essential for the team’s success.

The unit went from giving up 35.4 points a game last year to cutting that number in half this season.

Though the group struggled on that side of the ball last year, the defense returned nearly everyone. The team’s top-four leading tacklers this season are all juniors or sophomores.

“I can’t even put into words how far ahead we are right than I even anticipated we would be just because I knew we were still young defensively,” Corey May said.

The improvement has started up front – Gibson said even in practice the team has a hard time blocking 6-foot-6 junior nose tackle Jabbarry Belfleur. Players like junior defensive ends Julien Correa and Jeremiah Bataille, plus junior linebacker Coby Hayes and sophomore linebacker Kymoni Gordon, have taken tremendous strides.

“I see how much stronger we are up front than a lot of teams,” May said. “That box does a good job of stuffing any kind of run anybody trying to run up the middle on us.”

“The one thing I see is the pride our defense has in doing their job,” his father added. “They really have a lot of pride. They’ve been very consistent all year. We’ve been able to count on them pretty much all year just to make plays and hold people accountable.”

Turning one of the team’s weaknesses from a year ago into an indisputable strength is a testament to the younger May’s coaching acumen.

“He’s a damn good football coach,” Willis May said. “He’s been around some good football coaches being with me over the years. I’ve had a lot of good football guys on staff from when he was playing in West Virginia to when we came to Florida. He’s seen how it’s supposed to be done and he emulates that and takes it to another level. He’s one of the best football coaches around, period.”

Connected coaches, prideful players, and a compelling vision for the future at Riverdale has shaped this team into one of this season’s surprise contenders.

Like the construction-ridden high school, the Raiders are primed to emerge from the turmoil, and the turnaround isn’t all that complicated to explain for those who have been a part of the program under Gibson.

“He cares,” Willis May said. “He wants to be good. He wants this program to be good. He wants Riverdale to be where everybody wants to be, and, with our facilities and the coaching going on and you see guys wanting to be here, I think it’s only going to get better.”