by Nicholas Filipas
The 5th seeded McGavock Raiders stormed into Ravenwood High School to take on the Raptors in the bitter cold. The Raiders came off a thriling 28-27 victory last Friday while the Raptors had no problem racking up 55 points in their win. It was poised to be a even match but from the opening kickoff, it was all Ravenwood.
After a quick three-and-out from both teams, Ravenwood let Seth Rowland get to work, and he ate up huge chucks of yard to drive the Raptors down field, and on 1st and goal he gets Ravenwood up on the board first with a otuchdown run, his first of the night and Ravenwood is up 7-0 with 6:55 on the clock in the first quarter.
With .37 seconds left in the first, the Raiders looked like they escaped some major damage as they lost a fumble but choked Ravenwood on fourth and goal and they started their drive on the 1-yard line. That would prove costly as Demontez Carlton loses the snap and Ravenwood comes out of the pile with a safety, its now 9-0 Raptors after one.
Seven seconds had ticked away in the second quarter and Cole Brown finds U.S. Army All-American Van Jefferson for a 38-yard beauty of a touchdown pass, it’s 16-0 Ravenwood and things would only start to heat up from there.
McGavock loses another fumble and sets Ravenwood on their own 20-yard line. Brown will keep the pigskin for the QB sneak at the 5-yard line, 23-0 Ravenwood with 9:07 remaining.
Another quick three-and-out for the Raiders and they could only stand and watch as Rowland jukes around his defenders and scores his second touchdown of the first half with 5 mins remaining and it’s 30-0 as the proud student section loudly cheers, “This-game’s-over!”
And as if McGavock didn’t have enough problems to deal with, Carlton will be chased and tackled in the end zone by Bryan McKay on their last possession before halftime and gives Ravenwood another safety, and the Raptors would head into the locker room up 32-0 at the break.
The second half would see McGavock notch their only score in the endzone, but the Raptors doubled theirs and finished with a final score of 46-7. Up next for Ravenwood will be a visitor they are familiar with: Centennial. Besides the local rivalry, this could be one of the last times we see these two meet for awhile as the re-classification and re-alignment changes things for next year.
