GOOD HOPE– Losing Matt Hancock to a season-ending torn ACL last week definitely hurt the Good Hope Raiders, but they looked to recover from that in their homecoming game against county rival Cold Springs Friday night. A big second quarter was key as they put up three touchdowns to blow open a close game early and the Raiders ended up winning, 34-0. Student-athlete Kate Kent took home the title of homecoming queen prior to the game.
Both defenses dominated most of the first quarter. After an incomplete pass off a bad snap by the Eagles, the Raiders took over in excellent field position at the 25-yard line. After three plays, they were looking at a fourth-and-10 from the 25, and Bailey Quick threw a 25-yard touchdown strike to Kyle Carlton with 48 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to put the Raiders on the board. Quick wore no. 1 in honor of his injured teammate.
The Raiders got the ball back after forcing the Eagles into a punt. After a slow start, Matt Dixon busted a 32-yard run on a fourth-and-4 from the 49-yard line to keep their drive alive. Quick found Will Dickerson on a big third-down play from the 19-yard line to get a big first down at the 9. A few plays later, on another fourth-down play in the series, Quick threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Preston Bagwell to give Good Hope a 14-0 lead with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
Another punt by the Eagles put the Raiders at the 37-yard line, and Matthew Schwaiger found a big hole on the right side, breaking a tackle before taking off down the right sideline for a 63-yard touchdown run on the first play; that increased the lead to 20-0 with 5:20 remaining in the first half. The Raiders struck again on their next series off another Cold Springs’ punt on just four plays as Quick found Dixon for a 44-yard score to make it 27-0, which was the score at the half. Cold Springs was held to just 17 yards of total offense in the first half and zero first downs.
But that all changed after the Eagles recovered a Quick fumble to start out the second half. They got their first first down of the game on an Austin Lively 11-yard run as they continued to battle and grind for some positive yardage throughout the game, but it wasn't easy against the tough Raider defense, who held them to just 73 yards of total offense and four first downs for the game. Quick added a 32-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to make the score, 34-0, and that ended up being the final score.
Quick finished the game going 13-of-25 for 228 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, and added 41 more on the ground and a score. Dixon finished with 81 receiving yards and 37 rushing and a touchdown. Carlton (49 yards) and Preston Bagwell (39 yards) each finished with a score of his own. The defense played its best game of the year, adding a takeaway on a Mason Moniz interception. The offense finished with 387 yards for the game. The Raiders improve to 3-2 on the season, and will head to Winfield in a huge region game next Friday in a must-win game.
"We started off a little flat, but our offense started to click in the second quarter," Good Hope coaching Alan Scott said. "Losing Matt last week, we had to change some things. We struggled a little bit with the changes, but we started to get better. Bailey was off on some throws in the first quarter, but he found his guys in the second quarter and the offensive line did a great job of protecting him. The defense played outstanding, giving us great field position. Special teams also played really good. There are some things we still have to clean up though. We have to clean up our turnovers going into region play next week."
The expectations for Scott's Raiders continue to climb higher and higher with each game, and he's happy about that, despite being in a tough region.
He added, "I'm glad that expectations are really high for us this year. We are in a difficult region, but I feel like we can compete. We have to execute on both sides to get in the playoffs."
For Cold Springs, Lively finished with 19 rushing yards on eight carries, and Calvin McNabb finished with 17 rushing yards on 14 carries. The quarterback duo of Brodi Williams and Jordan Lacey went a combined 5-of-12 for six yards and an interception. The Eagles fall to 1-4 on the season and will head home to take on West End in their first home game since week two, as they look to get their season on track with regional play starting back.
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