At Friday’s game against Kennedale the Raider’s defense accomplished something that has only taken place a handful of times in the history of sports. The defense intercepted Kennedale’s Alvarez twice on the night catching two more passes than the Kennedale receivers did. After giving up over 500 yards of offense to Abilene Cooper the Raider’s defense held the Wildcat’s explosive offense to just a mere 185 yards of offense, and the Raider offense managed to muster up enough points to secure a 13-10 victory.
“The Defense did really good and this gives us confidence heading into next Friday’s game,” senior Tyler Mauri said.
Kennedale’s first drive was halted by a Mason Stone interception, but the Raiders would have to give the ball back, and the Wildcat’s next drive would not falter as they drove the ball down the field with Bo Burgess taking the ball in from 7 yards out to score Kennedale’s first and only touchdown of the game. The Raiders would respond with a scoring drive of their own, they drove 82 yards in 14 plays with Clark Daugherty catching a 32-yard pass from Malcolm Carter to keep the drive alive eventually leading to Deron Royster’s 1-yard plunge for a Raider touchdown to tie up the game 7-7.
The Raider’s defense would respond again late in the first half as the defense kept the Wildcats out of the end zone holding them to a 19-yard field goal for a 10-7 Kennedale lead at halftime.
“We could’ve beat them by more, but we had too many mistakes on offense,” Mauri said.
The second half was a battle of defenses and the Raiders proved to be the victor. The Wildcats who rang up over 400 yards on the ground against the Denison Yellowjackets last week, were held to 52 yards in the second half by the Raider defense. As for the offense, they managed to drive the ball down into field goal range and Connor Nutt delivered hitting two field goals from 38 and 32 yards to preserve the Raider victory.
With an emotional off-season finally behind them and a new head coach on their hands, the 2010 football team was ready to come out fighting in their season opener against the Cougars of 5A Abilene Cooper. Tevin Aldridge took Rider’s first offensive play of the year 83 yards for a touchdown, and after Tyler Weir picked off Clayton Nicholas on Cooper’s first offensive series, it seemed as if the Raiders had an upset on their hands. However the Cougars wouldn’t lose their composure and found themselves with a 21-15 halftime lead that they wouldn’t surrender to the Raiders in the second half pacing Abilene Cooper to a 40-21 victory in a emotional season opener for both teams.
“We knew what we were up against when we scheduled to play them (Cooper),” senior Bryan Kisinger said. “We needed to set the tone, but mistakes killed us.”
The Raiders actually had the lead three times in the first half, but each time Cooper was able to retake it from the Raiders.
After Cooper scored on their second drive due to favorable field position, Connor Nutt nailed a 34-yard field goal to give the Raiders the lead 9-7, however the Cougars pulled off a 76-yard touchdown pass and just like that Cooper retook the lead 14-9. The Raiders would answer back when Malcolm Carter hooked up with Graham McGregor on a 26-yard touchdown pass to give Rider its final lead of the game. The Cougars would score one more time to preserve a 21-15 halftime lead that never really came in question for the duration of the second half. The Raiders managed to pull within 34-21 when Deron Royster scored from one-yard out, but Abilene Cooper would score one more time in the fourth to put the game away.
“We need to play as a team,” senior Devon Garvin said. “We need to practice real hard and work on our mistakes.”
The Raiders once again will be tested as they travel to Arlington to play the #10 team of 3A Kennedale Sept. 3.
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