Riverside and Ascension Catholic faced off Friday night at Mickey Roussel Field in a rematch of last year’s Division IV select state championship game.

Now, as District 10-1A foes, the top two ranked teams in the Division IV select power rankings looked to take a stranglehold in the district standings and set themselves up for a strong finish with two weeks left in the regular season after Friday.

The Rebels did just that by controlling both lines of scrimmage and used a stingy defense and powerful running game to down the Bulldogs 34-0.

“I think we came out and had it on our mind,” Riverside coach Lee Roussel said. “I thought we played a physical brand of football in all three phases of the game. You know in pregame that you’ve got a feel on your team. I could see that we had the right vibe and right attitude.”

After punting on its first possession, Riverside (7-1, 3-0) drove 25 yards in five plays before Jake Becnel capped the scoring march with an 8-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 4:43 left in the opening quarter. The Rebels offense worked on a short field after defensive end Justin Hall sacked Ascension Catholic quarterback Greg Fernandez on fourth down.

The Rebels scored two more touchdowns to close out the first half. Kenric Johnson crossed the goal line from 5 yards out to take a 14-0 lead to start the second quarter, and Becnel found tight end Jake Bell alone in the back of the end zone for a 20-0 lead with 6:44 left before intermission.

Ascension Catholic (7-1, 2-1) did not move the chains and pick up a first down until the halfway mark of the second quarter. The Bulldogs had 66 yards of total offense, with six of those yards on the ground.

Cole Jacob and Johnson each nabbed an interception off Fernandez, and the Rebels had five sacks. Hall had three sacks and four tackles for loss.

“(Hall) works really hard at practice,” said Johnson, who had 133 yards rushing and a touchdown on 21 attempts and added 55 yards through the air. “He leads the defense and is the voice of the defense. He just comes out with energy, and that’s where we get it from.”

Becnel had three rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown in the contest. The junior had a pair of 1-yard scoring plunges in the second half to provide the final margin for the Rebels.

Riverside had 213 yards rushing and finished with 284 yards of total offense and 18 first downs.

Fernandez led the Bulldogs with 60 yards passing with two interceptions. No ball carrier had more than 3 yards on the ground.

Riverside will face Catholic-Pointe Coupee and West St. John to conclude the regular season. Johnson said Friday’s win sets his team up well for the stretch run and the playoffs.

“This was the No. 1 team in the rankings,” he said. “We would get all our playoff games at home, and I’m ready for that.”