One of the biggest blessings for first-year Riverside Military coach Gary Downs may be a bye week right away on Aug. 31. While most programs would despise having to use their coveted week off without having played a single game, Downs looks at it as another week to get his players at the private military school on the same page. Since Riverside Military (1-9 in 2011) doesn’t open the season until a game against Whitefield Academy on Sept. 7 at Maginnis Field, that gives Downs almost exactly a month to work with players from the time they reported to campus.