Riverfield Raiders now 2-1 in district action

The Riverfield Academy Raiders traveled to Raymond, Miss., to take on the Central Hinds Cougars this past Friday night.

The game ended in a tough district loss for Riverfield. Both teams went into the contest with 2-0 district records. The loss put Riverfield at 2-1 in district action.

They are not, however, out of the playoff picture by any means. With three games left on the regular schedule, two of which are district match ups, the Raiders remain poised and focused on the victories ahead.

The first half of Friday night’s contest began in a positive way fro the Raiders. After the opening kick off, they took control of the ball on their own 20 yard line. The Cougars were penalized five yard for offsides on the first play of the game. On the second play, Riverfield’s Nicholas Heath found a huge hole in the Cougar defense, due to the Raider offensive line, and took off for a 75-yard touchdown run. With 10 seconds gone off the game clock, the Raiders were up 6-0.

On the kick off after the first score, Central Hinds fumbled and Riverfield’s Cameron Williams recovered the ball. Nine plays later, the Raiders scored on a five-yard passing play from Braxton Shelton to Alex Allen to take a 12-0 lead with less than half of the first quarter gone.

With the momentum of the game well in favor of the Raiders early on, a couple of things took place that were moment busters.

On the first offensive drive of Central Hinds, the Cougars fumbled the ball in the backfield. A Raider defender fell on the ball and it looked as if the Raiders would take possession with good field position. The call on the field, however, was that the play was whistled dead and possession went back to the Cougars. Four plays later, however, the Raider defense shut the drive down when Garrett Brakefield intercepted a Cougar pass.

The first quarter ended with the Raiders in the lead 12-0.

Another momentum buster for the Raiders came in the opening minutes of the second quarter when Riverfield’s Garrett Brakefield broke loose on a 70-yard run. It looked like it would be another score for the Raiders. However, the ruling on the field was that Brakefield fumbled just a couple of yards short of the end zone with the ball rolling into the end zone where a pursuing defender fell on the ball and it was ruled a touchback with Central Hinds gaining possession of the ball on their own 20 yard line with set up their first scoring run.

The Raiders went to the half with a 12-7 lead.

They knew at that point, however, that they could have to control the momentum of the second half to take the victory. It just didn’t happen for them.

The Cougars outscored the Raiders 14-0 in the third quarter and 14-8 in the fourth quarter to bring the final score to 35-20 in favor of Central Hinds.

The Raiders will be in another district contest tomorrow night as they will host the Park Place Crusaders. It should prove to be a great game.

Raider fans, come on out to Joe Meeks Field tomorrow night at 7 p.m.