Philip Rivers brings his football team to town

Aug. 14—ATHENS — Philip Rivers said the memories came flooding back Friday afternoon when he stepped inside Athens Stadium and onto the turf for Larry McCoy Field.

"I thought back to my first game here and how time flies," Rivers said. "Dad (Steve) was the head coach. I was playing. My brother (Stephen) was the ball boy.

"Now, I'm a head coach. Stephen is one of my assistant coaches. One of my sons (Gunner) is playing and my other son (Paul) is the ball boy. It's just all so exciting."

Rivers brought his team from St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope north last week. They spent a couple of days at a youth camp near Oneonta before arriving in Athens and riding on Philip Rivers Drive into the stadium parking lot.

That had to be a cool experience for the St. Michael Cardinals, who play for a 17-year NFL veteran who first found fame as an All-State player in Athens.

Several members of the Rivers family were cheering for the Cardinals in the visiting bleachers. Being on that side of the field was a new view for assistant coach Stephen Rivers.

"It feels really strange to be over here and to be wearing red," he said.

Before the game, Philip was honored at midfield and received a replica helmet from his playing days.

"I've gotten to know Philip over the years through his visits here in the off season," Athens head coach Cody Gross said. "Now we when he has questions about different things that all head coaches have to deal with.

"One of the things we talked about was do you play a jamboree game or not. We both were considering it. He said 'Why don't I just bring my team up there?' Needless to say, we were all for it."

Athens Stadium's new scoreboard showed a final score of 24-15 late Friday night in favor of the Golden Eagles. The varsity teams played the first half with Athens taking a 14-7 halftime lead on touchdown runs of 70 yards by freshman Jay'Shon Ridgle and two yards by senior Larry Howard.

"Our goal coming in here was to just get better," Rivers said. "I asked my guys at halftime if they felt like this was making us better. They said yes. So we got what we wanted no matter what the scoreboard says."

The second half was a junior varsity battle. It was also Gunner Rivers' first high school game. The eighth grader played on the junior high team last season. Gunner wears No. 17 like his father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather did during their playing careers.

The throwing motion and play-making ability that the younger Rivers displayed Friday night had to bring back memories for some of the older Athens' fans who saw his dad during his hey-day in 1998 and 1999. Athens won a combined 24 games in Philip's junior and senior seasons. He was a Super 12 All-State selection as a senior.

"Gunner has already learned so much football from being around his dad," assistant coach Stephen Rivers said. "His knowledge of the game is so high for him only being an eighth grader."

St. Michael had five possessions in the second half. The first two were short and ended with punts. The third one ended with a turnover on downs near midfield.

The fourth possession was short, but productive. Starting at the St. Michael 30, Rivers hit Tucker Tomlinson on a seven-yard quick throw. On the next play he looked for Tomlinson again on a quick strike. This time Tomlinson headed deep, and Rivers hit him with a 63-yard touchdown throw.

For the first time since Stephen Rivers was throwing touchdown passes for Athens in 2009, the stadium public address announcer said, "Rivers touchdown pass."

While the St. Michel sideline erupted in celebration, Philip instructed Gunner to go for two points and throw a pass to Tomlinson on a fade route in the left corner. The pass was perfect and the catch was made to cut the Athens lead to 24-15.

Still trailing 24-15, St. Michael got the ball back at its 34 with 5:36 left to play. The Cardinals moved down the field in 12 plays to the Athens 22. A pass attempt to the goal line fell incomplete.

Athens ran out the clock behind freshman quarterback Jaxon Unger, who fittingly wears No. 17 for the Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles' second-half points came on a 20-yard run by Damarcus Malone and a 32-yard field goal by Nelson Brown.

After the game, St. Michael quickly headed out of Athens for a long bus ride back to Fairhope.

"One thing that our program wants to give our players is memories that will last a lifetime," Gross said. "That's what this night was about. A lot of our guys went over there to share Philip's hand after the game. That's something they'll always remember."

Both teams open the season Thursday. Class 4A St. Michael hosts the Class 5A Gulf Shores Dolphins coached by former UNA head coach Mark Hudspeth. Class 6A Athens is hosting Class 5A East Limestone.

— david.elwell@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @DD_DavidElwell.