Raiders suffer heartbreaking 23-22 loss at TCA

The Riverfield Raiders were in Flora, Miss., this past Friday night to play the Tri-County Academy Rebels.

The game was another regularly scheduled home game that had to be played on the visitor’s field. The contest ended in barn burner style but the Raiders did not come out on top.

From the beginning it was expected to be a tough, hard fought battle. The first quarter ended with the Raiders trailing 14-6. By halftime, the Raiders had evened the score at 14. The Raiders came out of the half and claimed the third quarter by outscoring the Rebels 8-3 to take a 22-17 lead into the fourth quarter.

A very tough break came up for the Raiders late in the fourth quarter when what looked like a would be touchdown ended in a Raider fumble on the TCA goal line. One possession later, TCA began their go ahead scoring drive deep in Raider territory and use all but 17 seconds of the time remaining to take the ball 90 yards and score, giving them a one-point advantage of 23-22. With just 17 seconds left, it was enough to deal the Raiders a tough, heartbreaking loss.

Turnovers seemed to plague the game with both teams having five each. The Rebels had four interceptions and one fumble while the Raiders had three fumbles and two interceptions. More than 80 penalty yards were also a big factor against the Raiders.

All in all, the Raiders outplayed the Rebels with 497 total yards offense on the night. TCA had 330.

In the Raider rushing game, both Hudson Brakefield and Trent Ginn broke 200 yards. Brakefield tallied out at 201 while Gin had 202. Each one scored one touchdown. Brett Whorton rushed for five years and scored one touchdown also.

In the passing game, Ginn was six for 13 and 89 yards. Ginn connected with Ty Skeldon once, Brett Whorton twice, Kayden Giesbrecht three times and Cooper Eldridge once.

Defensively for the Raiders, Ty Skeldon had two pass interceptions, Kayden giesbrecht had one, Addison Shelton had one and Drew Garrett recovered a TCA fumble.

The Raiders will put their loss behind them and work hard toward their next game and getting back on the winning tack. They will not be in action this week as they have an open date, but they will be back in action on Sept. 11 against Hillcrest Academy.