Thursday Oct. 6, Rider lost to Denton Ryan 20-17. Driving home from Memorial Stadium that night, my friend texted me and asked how the game went. I told him we lost, and he promptly responded saying, “I knew y’all would get creamed.”

I’m so happy my car is still intact, because I was so mad at his ignorance that I wanted to drive to his house and run my Grand Am through his front door. What happened on the field on Thursday might be the farthest thing from, “getting creamed,” possible. If anything, it showed how incredible of a team we have this year.

Allow me to share some statistics about Denton Ryan: 5 state championship appearances in the past 10 years, 2 championships in that span, currently ranked No. 2 in the entire state, numerous players already committed to D1 football programs like Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Florida State. They’ve beaten us by a combined 52 points the last two seasons, and had two weeks to prepare for the game after a by week.

Seems like a true David and Goliath situation right? Every newspaper in the state predicted Ryan would slaughter us.

In the first 15 minutes, Ryan got up 17-0, and it seemed like those papers were right. At this point in the game, I along with some of the people next to me on the rail of the student section couldn’t help but remember the 21-point fourth quarter comeback against Abilene Cooper, which Coach Gar described as, “one of the best wins in Rider history.” We knew Rider had the capacity to win this game, and right one cue, we started on an incredible comeback.

Over the next 33 minutes, the defense held the red hot Ryan Raiders scoreless. The Ryan Raiders attempted a total of five passes the entire game, and so the defense needed to stop the run. In the first quarter, Ryan ran a 72-yard touchdown, so stopping the run might seem like a tall order. But if you were at the game, it seemed like every player on the defense morphed into an NFL player, or maybe a Greek god. It felt like every play there were players in the backfield hassling the running back. Considering that the average weight of Ryan’s starting offensive lineman is upwards of 280 pounds, and we were pushing them around wherever we pleased, I’d say something extraordinary possessed those players after the first 15 minutes.

And then there’s the offense. This is where we ran into our biggest problem, and his name is Mario Edwards. He is a 6’4 285-pound senior defensive end for Denton Ryan, who has already committed to the Florida State. In the August edition of ESPN the magazine, he was ranked as the No. 3 player in every division of high school football and by far the best defensive end. You could recognize him before the game incredibly easily. He was the one who was casually walking around while his team warmed up. He also wore a chain wrapped around his body while he warmed up. Oh yeah, and he was also one of the biggest human beings I’ve ever seen, and I’m the same age as him!

But, I’d say we have the perfect solution to this problem. During the comeback, the offense was still able to conduct itself nicely. JT Barrett had plenty of time to let his pass plays develop. Our plethora of running backs (especially Dominic Thrasher and Anthony Wagner) had holes to burst through. All of this largely due to 6’4 283-pound junior offensive lineman Harrison Sorge, who was matched up against Mario Edwards.

During the comeback, Sorge went toe to toe with Edwards every down of those 33 minutes, and basically shut him down. Sorge held Edwards to two tackles the entire game, which is a monumental accomplishment considering Edwards averaged that many sacks a game last season. If Sorge would not have played as lights out as he did, we never would have come back.

We tied the Ryan Raiders 17-17 in the fourth quarter. Barrett threw a perfect 49-yard touchdown pass to junior Brandon Williams, who beat two defenders by about 1 step. Anthony Wagner capped a 14 play, 63-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run and Cal Johnson hit a 46-yard field goal.

The Ryan Raiders had 1st and goal on our 4-yard line. This is where we made an incredible goal line stand, which was punctuated by senior Cody O’Donnell forcing a fumble on 4th and goal from the one yard line, and giving us the ball back on our own 3-yard line.

We were forced to punt, but once again, the resurgent Raider defense took the field and held the Ryan offense, forcing them to attempt a 31-yard field goal with about one and a half minutes left. This is where senior Blake Brom came storming around the blockers, and blocked the kick, giving us the ball back, and an overflowing amount of momentum and drive.

Barrett ran for 12 yards, completed a pass to junior Brylan McCoy for another first down, and then threw an interception to Denton Ryan, which eventually led to them kicking the game winning field goal.

A heartbreak to say the least, but there is no way we would have comeback to tie Ryan without his passing, tough running, and overall leadership on the field. I heard nobody at school blaming JT for the loss. That’s one of the things I love about being a student at Rider: we stay united.