Raiders fall to Mustangs 9-6 during overtime play

The Riverfield Academy Raiders were at home this past Friday night where they hosted the River Oaks Mustangs.

It is usually an exciting and intense game when Riverfield and River Oaks match up and Friday night’s game was no different. In a low scoring contest, the Raiders came up short, losing by a score of 9-6 in overtime.

River Oaks took the opening kick off and in four plays took the ball 72 yards to score their only touchdown of the night. They missed the PAT, so with just a little over two minutes gone off the clock, the Mustangs had an early lead of 6-0.

The Raider defense then tightened down and didn’t allow another mustang score in regulation time. The flip side of that is that River Oaks also shut down all Raider scoring until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

The quarter began with the Raiders punting the ball and the Mustangs taking possession near midfield. They began moving the ball toward the Raider end zone, but six plays into their drive, they fumbled and Riverfield’s Jackson Shelton recovered the loose ball.

Riverfield then moved the ball 56 yards deep into Mustang territory, yet they were still held out of the end zone and forced to turn possession over on downs.The drive ended close to the Mustang five yard line.

The Mustangs took possession of the ball and were pushed back to their own two yard line by a penalty. An attempted pass was intercepted by Riverfield’s Alex Allen, who ran the ball to the Mustang five yard line before being brought down. Nicholas Heath then picked up four yards on a rushing play. Heath then punched the ball in on the next play from seven yards out. The two point PAT fell just inches short. So, with 1:40 left on the game clock, the Raiders scored their only touchdown of the night and the game was tied at 6.

After the kickoff, the Mustangs were unsuccessful in moving the ball and punted on the fourth down. The Raiders were able to get one play off after the punt but didn’t gain any yardage on it. The final horn sounded sending a 6-6 ballgame into overtime.

In overtime, the Mustangs took possession of the ball first. In a first and goal situation, the Mustangs gained no yardage on their first three downs. On fourth down, however, they successfully kicked a field goal to go ahead 9-6.

The Raiders then took possession on the 10-yard-line with first and goal.

They gained four yards rushing on first down and 0 yards rushing on second down. On third down, they attempted a pass but were intercepted, giving the Mustangs a 9-6 victory.

It was a hard way to lose a game and especially to River Oaks. It was, however, a great match up and a hard fought effort on behalf of both teams.

The loss puts the Raiders at a 1-2 overall season record (1-0 in district play).

The Raiders will host Hillcrest Academy tomorrow night in another district game.

Hey, Raider fans, come on our to Joe Meeks Field tomorrow night to watch the 2018 Raiders play in district action.

Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

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