The Raiders played their season opener versus Doral Academy on Aug. 23. The team looks to clean up mistakes as they head toward becoming district champions for the third time in a row.
Their road back to the district title faces adversity before the first whistle due to key players—sophomore offensive lineman Terrence Jones and senior lineman Owen Duffy—being out due to injury. The team was also without junior safety Samuel “Champ” Smith, who looks to build off the momentum he ended last year with after reeling in three interceptions.
The Raiders started by hitting the ground running, with senior running backs RJ Boyton and Sebastien “Jefe” Lacrete, and sophomore Darriel “Fatcat” Canon racking up massive yardage on their runs. The run game set up senior kicker Christian Murciano to hit his first field goal, putting the Raiders up 3-0 to start the game. The defense, led by newly joined senior defensive end Ronin Robles and senior defensive end Julian Terry—who ended the game with four tackles for loss and two quarterback pressures—played a strong first quarter, forcing punt after punt from Doral. This set up the offense to score their first touchdown with a deep pass from sophomore quarterback Harvel Jackson to senior wide receiver Kenny Williams.
“Pre-snap read, I knew it was going to Kenny,” Harvel Jackson said. “Kenny’s fast; there’s no other way to say it, and the defensive back guarding him couldn’t keep up with him, so I threw it up, and we connected,” Jackson added.
(Gabriela Memmen)
Along with his passing, Harvel was able to use his legs and scramble out of the pocket, making the defense adapt to his rushing ability. This left his wide receivers, like Kenny Williams, with room to work with during the first half. Furthermore, the offensive line was able to pick up blitzes and give the quarterback enough time to create plays.
However, problems occurred during the second quarter as the Raider defense sustained injuries play after play, with, at one point, three plays in a row ending with a player injured. Even with all the injuries, this did not stop the defense from fighting hard.
“It’s a next-man-up mentality,” sophomore defensive tackle Eli Levi said. “That’s the mentality our coaches instilled in us. We’re still going to fight till the last down, no matter what,” Levi said.
Although the defense fought back, with Sebastien “Jefe” Lacrete recording 11 tackles and one forced fumble, Doral was able to run the football down the field and ended the first half up 13-10.
To start the second half, sophomore quarterback Brendan Beery took the field to lead the offense. Beery, like Jackson, had to make use of his legs due to heavy rain, which slowed down the Air Raid system offensive coordinator Tony Gaiter IV put in place this year.
“They did a good job managing the game,” Coach Gaiter said when asked about both of his quarterbacks’ performances. “We’ve got to do a better job as a group of understanding the down-and-distance situation, but as far as managing the game and keeping everyone level, they did a great job,” Gaiter said.
Along with Beery, the committee of running backs led the offense to get back into rhythm, capped off by Kenny Williams scoring his second touchdown of the day out of the wildcat formation.
“We saw how they lined up and made the adjustments,” Kenny Williams said. “My blockers blocked for me, and I made a few moves and got into the end zone for six,” Williams said.
The team led 20-19 for most of the third quarter, with the teams trading long drives back and forth. Midway through the third, senior kicker Christian Murciano punted a ball to the one-yard line, which set up the Raiders’ defense in great field position.
“We go over these types of punts every day in practice,” senior kicker Christian Murciano said. “When I’m that close to the end zone, I try to place it right before the end zone so it’s not a touchback and try to pin the returner. I’m just glad we were able to execute the play,” Murciano said.
By the start of the fourth quarter, the Raiders were still fighting to win the game; however, they ran out of gas after the offense committed a costly turnover, which led to Doral having a drive that spanned over six minutes, resulting in a touchdown at the end of the game. The final score was 34-20. The Raiders will host their first home game of the season on Aug. 30 against Monsignor Pace at 4 p.m., where they hope to secure a win in front of the home crowd.
