Riverfield Raiders win big on a Saturday night
The Riverfield Raiders were in action this past week but had to move outside their regular scheduled game to play.
What would have been the first real home game for the Raiders hosting the Hillcrest Academy Cougars on Sept. 11 took a turn of events and left them without a game about mid afternoon on Friday.
Head Coach Kyle Stracenor immediately went to work to find them another opponent. He did find one but the game would have to be played on Saturday instead of Friday. So, on Sept. 12, the Raiders hosted the Oak Forest Yellow Jackets, a MAIS-6A school from Amite. The game was actually a better match up for the Raiders than the game with Hillcrest would have been.
The Yellow Jackets received the opening kick off and scored first with just under two minutes gone off the first quarter clock. Their 7-0 lead would be the only points scored in the first half. So the Raiders went into the half time scoreless but only trailing by a touchdown.
The Raiders came out of half time and quickly took control of the contest. Receiving the opening kickoff of the second half, the Raiders put up 18 unanswered points in the third quarter and dominated the time possession of the football.
Their normal powerhouse rushing attack of Hudson Brakefield and Trent Ginn was more than the Jackets could contain. Brakefield scored twice in the quarter of runs of 14 and four yards while Gin added six points on a 34-yard run. The Raiders took a commanding lead of 18-7 into the fourth quarter.
Brakefield put the icing on the cake for the Raiders with his fourth-quarter touchdown run of 27 yards. Ginn added one on the PAT and the Raiders took a lead of 25-7, a score that held until the final horn sounded.
Raiders defense played tough all night, keeping the Yellow Jackets at 206 yards of total offense on the night. They also forced four Jacket turnovers. Recovering fumbles for the Raiders were Brett Whorten, Drew Gannett and Samuel Hoychick. Ty Skeldon hauled in a pass interception.
The Raiders tallied out at 327 yards of total offense, 270 of them rushing while 57 came from the pass.
The victory on a Saturday night was sweet for the Raiders, especially after the very abrupt cancellation of Friday’s game.
The Raiders will be in action in Vicksburg Friday night in a match up against the St. Aloysius Flashes.
It is a regularly scheduled away game for the Raiders.