Beneath the Friday night lights the varsity football team stomped the Hawks 50-23 in the season opener, Aug. 31 against Hendrickson.

                After summer two-a-days, the team opted to do the pre-game warmup at the practice field instead of at Bible Stadium.

                “We went to the field at Rouse to warm up instead of at Bible because that’s where we put in all the work every day,” said senior defensive end Travis Leslie, who had four assisted tackles and one individual in the game. “It helps us remember that we didn’t put all the work in for nothing and it’s time to pay off.”

The Raiders got on the board quickly, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter and were up 21-7 in the first half. Four players would score including quarterback Justin Pelt who went 5-for-5 for 95 yards.

                “Beating the Hawks by 28 points was a huge deal to us,” senior wide receiver Hunter Ballis said. “We set a new school record of most points scored, but I believe it was easily deserved since we have worked so hard the past four years. In a way this game should be a standard that we have to live up to for the rest of the season.”

                This win has the team and the fans excited and looking forward to this season. In their pre-season coverage of high school football, The Austin-American Statesman named the Raiders as a “dark horse” candidate for playoffs.

                “It was a really great feeling knowing that Rouse is going to be a powerhouse football team this year,” senior inside linebacker Austin Herring said. “We’ve worked day in and day out, and we definitely deserve it. You’ll see us playing football in December.”

This is the Raiders’ fourth varsity season and second in 4A. Last season was the first year for the team to post varsity wins, winning the season opener and Homecoming. With their first win under their belt this season, the varsity team expects to keep adding W’s to the win column.

                “We haven’t really had a proper varsity season in the past, and this year we all knew we had the potential to be great, but we hadn’t been able to get the results before,” Leslie said. “We just needed to believe in ourselves to get things done after being discouraged in the past, but a few minutes into the game we all knew what we were going to do.”