By Wes Nakama

WAIALUA -- The Riverdale Ridge (Thornton, Colo.) football team bounced back from a tough season-opening loss to run past Waialua, 48-0, Thursday night at idyllic Toshi Nakasone Stadium.

Riverdale Ridge's campus is located roughly 18 miles northeast of downtown Denver. The Ravens, who lost to Grandview, 36-0, on Aug. 21, evened their record to 1-1 in their first season competing at the 5A (highest) level in Colorado. The Bulldogs fell to 1-2.

Waialua ran 11 plays and advanced to past midfield on the game's opening drive thanks to two Riverdale Ridge penalties on fourth down, but finally did punt and the Ravens wasted no time in covering 71 yards on six plays, culminating in Josh Rosales' 5-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. Hunter Lothrop converted the extra point to make it 7-0.

On the second play of the second quarter, Melo Chavez intercepted a pass close to the near sideline and returned it 33 yards to paydirt. Lothrop's PAT extended the lead to 14-0. After the Bulldogs went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, Riverdale Ridge marched 57 yards on 10 plays capped by Adam Horta's 4-yard TD run with 6:39 remaining in the second quarter. Lothrop again kicked the extra point to make it 21-0.

The Ravens scored again just 42 seconds before halftime, on quarterback Ricky Weeks Jr.'s 10-yard touchdown pass to Novaj Simmons. Lothrop's PAT stretched the lead to 28-0 at the break.

"I was proud of our guys, (with) the excitement and everything else, you knew there were going to be some things we needed to clean up," said Riverdale Ridge coach Wayne Voorhees, adding that Grandview is now the No. 3-ranked team in Colorado. "We had too many penalties, but I was proud of our guys, they played hard. They were doing some good things, but obviously we need to clean some things up."

Rosales took the second-half kickoff and scampered 67 yards to the Waialua 15, and two plays later plunged in from the 1 for another score. Lothrop tacked on the extra point to make it 35-0, triggering the running clock.

"We came off a big loss against Grandview, and we were coming back just to establish ourselves as a team and see how we can compete," said Horta, who finished with 100 yards and two TDs rushing on 10 carries and was named the game's Most Outstanding Player on offense. "(Our offensive linemen) are hard workers, they're dogs in the trenches, they love to fight, they're really physical and they'll get to that second level and make those blocks that I need."

After the postgame handshakes, the entire Ravens team jogged over to the home sideline to stand alongside the Bulldogs as they sang the Waialua alma mater. The teams then joined up again near the 20-yard line for a group picture, and then exchanged more handshakes and interaction.

That was followed by a potluck dinner for both teams behind the stadium bleachers.

"I believe football brings people together, it's a good sport, a way to connect and meet others," said Horta, a 5-foot-6, 163-pound senior running back. "For us being here, we are thankful for Waialua to welcome us to their home and treat us like family. Throughout the game it was respectful, I was getting helped up after every hit. Just small things like that brings us together, I would say."

Bulldogs coach Gary Wirtz said despite the final score, his team and the community in general has shown great resilience after suffering through extensive property damage and other challenges following the two "Kona Low" weather events in March.

"My goal for this game was to prepare for what we're gonna face in the next seven (OIA) games," Wirtz said. "I'm proud of the boys with the way they didn't give up, they didn't surrender and they kept battling the whole time. We have eight seniors, eight juniors and everybody else is a sophomore or freshman. We had only 28 boys suited up, only six linemen. So I would say in all -- the score doesn't say it -- but the boys did well. I'm super proud of them ... the effort. We were down (28-0) at half, came out and didn't quit, kept fighting, kept battling. And we didn't play with our emotions. We played good, sound football. We cleaned it up from last week's game (a 26-14 loss to Kaimuki). Our goal was to get better.

"Waialua, we've been through so much, from the Kona Lows back-to-back, to (Tropical Storm) Lala a couple weeks ago, the flooding, everything that we've dealt with ... To see these boys still keep their heads up, still working hard. They know it's a game, they play it, and leave it (all) on the field."

Voorhees said most of the Riverdale Ridge players had never been to Hawai'i, and many had never been on an airplane or even out of state before.

"This is a pretty amazing experience for these kids," Voorhees said. "We went to a Japanese steakhouse (Wednesday evening), that was awesome. We did a little walk-through on the beach. We'll do Pearl Harbor (on Friday), I'm real excited for the kids to see that, it's an awesome experience. Then we have a dinner cruise, and (on Saturday) some beach time and then a luau. So we're trying to hit all the different cultural things."

Photos: Payton Ito-Ohara