The Raiders stomped on Brackenridge 35-14 in the area round of the 4A Division 1 playoffs, Saturday, Nov. 24 at Bobcat Stadium.
“It was key to get off to a fast start against a good team like them,” head coach Joshua Mann said. “They’re very explosive so I’m proud that we stayed focused, some things didn’t quite go our way at first, but we stayed on track and got the scores we needed to.”
The Raiders scored twice in the first quarter with sophomore Billy Ray McCrary running in the first touchdown and senior quarterback Justin Pelt throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to senior Joey Beauchamp on 4th and 13 to put the Raiders up 14-0.
“Coach wanted us to come out hard, get down on them and then stomp on their throat, that’s what we did and we just kept on rolling,” McCrary said. “It takes a lot of momentum to get them down and right there we get to go back in and just drive on them and do what we do.”
Brackenridge would get on the board in the second quarter with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Montae Whorton to cut the lead to 14-7. The Raiders would score one more time in the first half with Pelt keeping the ball for a 9-yard score to make it 21-7 going into the half.
The Raiders would score twice in the third, off a 4-yard run by senior Logan Kinder and a second touchdown by McCrary, a 27-yard pass from Pelt to increase the lead to 35-7. In the fourth, Brackenridge would add a late touchdown with less than three minutes left to make it 35-14. Rouse would run out the clock to end the game.
“It’ll give us a lot of momentum considering how badly we beat them,” Kinder said. “We will just look forward and fix our mistakes.”
The defense would hold Brackenridge to a touchdown each half and forced several turnovers. Senior Jordan Vice had two interceptions, giving him eight for the season.
“[The defense] really put pressure on the quarterback,” Vise said. “They did a good job and helped us do our job a lot easier. They got to the quarterback and made him run around. They made him look a lot quicker then he should have and they did a great job. They couldn’t run their base plays and they had to scramble. Their offense was chaos. It’s much easier when their offense is in chaos.”
Hundreds of fan made the trek to San Marcos, filling the lower visitor side at Bobcat Stadium.
“We have the best fan base in Texas that’s what that is,” Kinder said. “We definitely beat the other crowd and they even went up to the upper deck so that was awesome.”
The Eagles end their season 7-5 while the Raiders move to 8-4.
“It makes us even more excited to play the next round,” Vise said. “It makes us even more hungry to come out with a win.”
The Raiders move on to the third round where they will play Gregory Portland Saturday at 2pm Heroes Stadium in San Antonio.
“We’re about to play football in December, and when you’re playing football in December in the state of Texas you’re getting close to a mighty big prize,” Mann said. “We’ve got to stay focused, got to be humbled, come back next week, go back to work.”
