All by himself . . . for a little bit. The Raider passing game was a big part of the victory over Fall City Sacred Heart last Friday night. In this picture, Clay Williams finds himself alone, long enough to haul in the pass. This was one of six passes Clay had Friday for an unofficial total of 68 yards. The Raiders completed 11 of 20 pass attempts with Nolan Ostdiek also a prime receiver catching four passes for 70 yards.
What to do ? ? ?
Our team played 31 minutes against a team with a strong football tradition of winning state titles. That team (Falls City Sacred Heart (FCSH) just intercepted a Raider pass and ran it back about 73 yards to tie the game, making the score 14-14 late in the 3rd quarter.
You may have thought you'd played well enough that the FCSH interception and run-back TD to tie the score at 14-14 was just not fair. After all, you had possession of the ball for about 20 minutes, compared to about nine minutes for FCSH up to this time . . . and were about to score again . . . what to do?
Well . . . an old time L-N performance called "Raider Football" seemed to come out from the Raider team and during the last 17 minutes of the game L-N outscored FCSH 22-0 for their second win of the year.
Or . . . you could say this team is "different" as Coach Blevins said in the post-game huddle. "Different," maybe, but maybe the team "bought into" what Coach Blevins has been preaching forever, and what the new Nebraska Cornhusker Football coach has been teaching for several months now: "teams have to play four quarters to win. You have to play strong in those 3rd and 4th quarters to win."
And that's what happened: L-N 36 – FCSH 14.
L-N received the opening kickoff and took 13 plays to move the ball 63 yards and score with a nine yard run by Jack Williams. PAT failed. (6-0) FCSH promptly returned the favor by moving the ball 61 yards in five plays to score and adding the PAT. (6-8)
For the next 15 minutes the teams traded blow after blow until the Raiders put together an 11 play, 56 yard drive to score on a one yard run by Connor Janda. A Janda to Clay Williams pass scored the PAT and L-N led 14-8 with 23 seconds left in quarter #2.
The ball changed hands three times in the first half of the 3rd period before L-N drove 57 yards to the FCSH five yard line where disaster struck. A possible TD pass was tipped and caught by FCSH and they ran the interception back 75 yards to tie the score at 14-14 after the FSCH PAT failed.
The rest of the game belonged to the Raiders. The next three possessions for each team were as follows:
• L-N: 9 plays, 67 yards, TD run of seven yards by Connor Janda, PAT failed. (20-14)
• FCSH: four plays, minus two yards, punt.
• L-N: seven plays, 46 yards, TD on Janda 10 yard run with PAT good on Janda run. (28-14)
• FSCH: 9 yards on six plays, punt.
• L-N: five plays, 36 yards, TD on 11 yard Janda run with PAT good on a 13 yard Janda to Nolan Ostdiek pass. (36-14)
• FCSH: 5 plays, 26 yards, turn-over on downs.
* L-N ran out clock as quarterback took a knee twice on the FCSH eight yard line.
If you don't like talking about a strong 2nd half of play. Talk about the Raider defense, pass defense which was especially good. FCSH completed 8 of 19 passes, but quite a number of those 11 missed passes were broken up by a Raider defender. FCSH had only 61 yards of offense in the last three quarters.
L-N racked up 19 first downs and allowed FCSH only 7.
Offensive Stats: L-N Rushing: 276 yards, Passing: 153 yards; total: 429:
FCSH: Rushing: 107; Passing: 46: Total: 153.
Raiders: Rushing: Connor Janda: 37 times for 178 yards; Bayln Bargen: 8 times for 43 yards; Jack Williams: 5 times for 43 yards; Cody Funk: 2 times for 12 yards.
Passing: Janda 14 of 24 for 153 yards. Receptions: Bargen 2 for 11 yards; N. Ostdiek: 3 for 43 yards; J. Williams: 2 for 25 yards; C. Williams: 7 for 74 yards.
Defense: (A – Assisted; UA – Unassisted) Nolan Ostdiek: 3 A, 5 UA; Connor Janda 2 A, 3 UA, 1 for loss and 2 sacks; Rocky Miller 3 A, 4 UA; Riley Cannaday 2A, 1 UA; Aidan Zikmund 2 A, 3 UA; Carter Griffis 1 UA; Cody Funk 1 A; Clay Williams 2A, 1 UA; Bayln Bargen 3 A, 1 UA; Jack Williams 1 A; Caden Culbertson 1 UA.
The Raiders this Friday entertain Arapahoe for what looks like a serious contest. Arapahoe won their first two games this season and have had strong teams in the past. Come, enjoy the evening out west.
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