Riverfield drops season opener to Bayou Academy

The Riverfield Academy Raiders began their 2018 regular season this past Friday night in Cleveland, Miss., where they faced the Bayou Academy Colts.

The Raiders had really hoped to end a three-year losing streak to Bayou in the non-district season opener, but for the fourth year straight, they came up short.

Riverfield did get on the score board first, but led the Colts 7-0 for only a short period of time. The first quarter ended with in a 7-7 tie. The Colts, however, outscored the Raiders 14-6 in the second, 13-6 in the third and 14-6 in the fourth. The final score was Bayou 48, Riverfield 25.

Some high points in the game for the Raiders included 272 yards of total offense. Of those, 208 yards were gained with the rushing attack while 64 yards were gained with the pass.

Leading the rushing attack was Garrett Brakefield. Brakefield had 88 yards on 12 carries and scored one rushing touchdown. Nicholas Heath had 83 yards on 16 carries. Hudson Brakefield carried twice for 31 yards and one touchdown. Braxton Shelton had six yards on two carries.

In the passing game, quarterback Braxton Shelton went five for 15. Shelton was intercepted twice. He connected with Nicholas Heath twice for 16 yards, Alex Allen twice for 35 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown, and Ty Skeldon once for 13 yards.

Other Raiders highlights in the game included two Colt interceptions, both by Garrett Brakefield. Brakefield also returned a third quarter kickoff 70 yards for a Raider touchdown.

Although the Raiders came up short in the season opener, the game did present them with an opportunity to see some areas they need to improve in. They have been working hard this week preparing for tomorrow night’s game against Porter’s Chapel in Vicksburg. This will be a district match up and should prove to be a great contest.

Hey, Raider fans, see all of you at Porter’s Chapel in Vicksburg Friday night. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.