by Frank A. Davis

COURTLAND
After being down 16-14 in the first quarter, the Southampton Academy Raiders came back afterward to overpower the Community Christian School Cyclones 52-22.

In the home game on Friday, the Raiders struck quickly on their first possession early in the first quarter with a 50-yard touchdown run by Montae Barrett. Raider quarterback Sam Rose added the 2-point conversion to put the Raiders ahead 8-0.

But the Cyclones also answered quickly as their quarterback Chandler Conway crossed the goal line on a touchdown run. Jordon Allen added the 2-point conversion for the Cyclones to tie the game at 8 all in the first quarter.

On the Raiders’ next possession, quarterback Sam Rose connected on a 47-yard pass to advance the ball into the red zone, but the Raiders could not capitalize on it and turned the ball over to the Cyclones. The Cyclones’ Cameron Williams broke through the line and scored on a 78-yard touchdown run. The 2-point conversion was good to put the visitors ahead 16-8.

The Raiders fought back as Caleb Kidd crossed the goal line on a run to put the score at 16-14, which held for the first quarter.

The Raiders opened the second quarter as QB Rose connected with Caleb Kidd for a touchdown pass to put the home team ahead 20-16. The 2-point conversion failed.

On the Cyclones’ next possession, Ricky Evans picked off a Cyclone pass which led to the next Raider score as Rose going back to the air hit Ian Mizelle for a 12-yard touchdown pass. Rose scored on a run for the 2-point conversion to put the home team ahead 28-16 in the second quarter.

After a Cyclone fumble, Rose connected again with Caleb Kidd for a touchdown pass in the last minute of the half. Ian Mizelle caught a pass to score the 2-point conversion to end the half with the Raiders up 36-16.

In the third quarter of play the Raiders struck twice in scoring on a 40-yard touchdown run by Rose and a 2-yard run by Ricky Evans. Two-point conversion runs are credited to Evans and Barrett respectfully. These scores pushed the Raider led to 52-16 in the third quarter.

Rules of the Raiders conference require the winning team to have a 42-point led before the game can have a running clock. Therefore, the visitors faced a long fourth quarter. The Raiders were able to put fresh players into the game to give them some experience and playing time. The only score in the fourth quarter came from the Cyclones as Avery Winstead scored on a touchdown run. The 2-point conversion failed to result in the final score of 52-22. 

The Raiders rushed for a total of 210 yards during the game. They were led by Montae Barrett with 107 yards. Sam Rose followed with 72 yards. For the Cyclones, Avery Winstead led their rushing with 122 yards. Rose passed for 311 yards. In receiving, Caleb Kidd led with 137 yards followed by Ian Mizelle with 85 yards.

Coach Dale Marks said after the game, “They [the Cyclones] did basically what we thought they would do. They are a power-running team with some big running backs.

They ran it on us early and we got punched in the mouth, and then we did a switch on defense that slowed them down a little bit.

“But they had a good game plan to start off with that they were attacking our base defense, which is a three-three, but we switched to a three-two defense. We spread our lead a little bit and were able to get our second team in there.”

Marks added that he does not like to throw the ball that much, but the Cyclones had their team blitzing a lot so he went over the top in the air.

The Raiders are 3-0 with their next game on the road this Friday, Sept. 15, against Faith Christian.