COURTLAND—The Southampton Academy Raiders (2-0) defeated the Word of God Christian Academy Holy Rams 52-0 in a rematch from this past year’s championship game.

“I thought we played pretty well,” said head coach Dale Marks. “They obviously lost some good kids and are a young team, but I thought they played hard.”

Total offense for the Raiders was 421 yards, while the Southampton Academy defense kept the Holy Rams to 90 total yards. 402 of those yards for the Raiders were on the ground. Word of God had 44 yards on the ground and 46 yards passing.

Marks said he was impressed with how they played defensively.

“As far ahead as we were on offense coming in this season, I felt like we were further ahead on defense,” he said. “The main reason is that we had kids in place. We knew who our linebackers would be, we knew who our safeties would be, our ends. I feel like they played well.”

Matt Rose led the pack in total yards, with 145 on 7 attempts with two for touchdowns. Tonee Hill had 66 yards on 11 carries with 2 touchdowns. Ethan Edwards, on 4 carries, had 72 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“I’ve said all year that we’ve got a group of backs that we could rotate out and be just as effective,” he said. “That is a tremendous luxury, especially in our multi-set offense.”

One big play of the night was a long run by QB Rose on a keeper went for a touchdown.

“They came out in the beginning keying in on Tonee, they were yelling out watch No. 11,” he said. “So we ran plays where we used Tonee as a decoy, and that was one of them. It looks like our zone read, but it is not blocked like it. Matt broke it and out ran them to the endzone.

“A lot of teams are going to be keying in on Tonee, and he probably didn’t have as big of a night as he would have liked, but that opens up some plays for other players.”

Marks said one thing the team would have to correct is penalties going forward.

“We had way too many tonight,” Marks said. “Against the better teams, penalties can kill you.”

Holy Rams coach Kevin Washington said the game got away from them early.

“We are young,” he said. “We lost 9 seniors from last year — all of our offense except for one player. It’s a cycle, and we are in the rebuilding phase. We’re young, a team of freshmen and sophomores, and we look forward to a bright future.”

Washington, whose team fell to 0-2, tipped his cap to coach Marks.

“I wish them nothing but the best,” he said. “I hope we get this turned around, and maybe we’ll meet them in the playoffs.”

Southampton Academy plays Cary Christian in a home matchup this upcoming week at 7:30.