Good Hope quarterback Bailey Quick (2) fires a pass down field during Friday night's win over Cordova. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
GOOD HOPE – Raider fans got to pack out their home stadium Friday night for the first time this season and the Raider team on the field gave them a fun show to watch. Good Hope (Class 4A, Region 5) ran through the Cordova Blue Devils (Class 4A, Region 5) 43-24 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. The big win at home puts Good Hope at 3-0 so far this season and 1-0 in region play.
The Raiders’ offense struck first about midway through the first quarter when quarterback Bailey Quick connected with wide receiver Preston Bagwell for a 25-yard touchdown. After a fumble and turnover on downs, Good Hope extended its lead to 15-0 thanks to a 29-yard touchdown run from running back Matt Dixon. Dixon finished the night with 82 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown to go along with two catches for 64 yards and another score.
Running back Colton Bagwell added to the lead when he plowed his way into the end zone from 8 yards out, putting the Raiders up 22-0 in the second quarter. With less than two minutes to play in the half, Cordova finally got on the board with a 70-yard touchdown run. Good Hope answered almost immediately with a 31-yard touchdown run from Quick that gave the Raiders a 29-8 lead at the half.
Outside of the touchdown just before the half, the Good Hope defense completely smothered Cordova’s offense. The Raider defense generated five negative plays and interceptions from defensive lineman Ethan Rasco and defensive back Johnny Quick in the first half alone, and the long scoring play accounted for 70 of the Blue Devils’ 114 yards of offense before halftime. On the other side of the field, Good Hope racked up 278 yards on offense in the opening half, including 183 yards on the ground.
Quick added another touchdown on the ground to go up 36-8 at the start of the third quarter and later found Dixon for a 27-yard touchdown that ended his night under center for the Raiders. Quick didn’t complete a high percentage of his passes, but he was still able to find the end zone pretty often for Good Hope. He completed six of his 14 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns while also leading the Raiders in rushing with 121 yards and two more scores.
The Blue Devils were able to get on the board a couple more times in the second half against a younger unit for Good Hope, but the lead was too much for Cordova to come back from and the Raiders defeated their region foe 43-24.
After the game, Raiders Head Coach Alan Scott talked about the biggest positives and negatives that he took away from the win.
“I thought we came out a little flat to begin the night, but we got clicking pretty good there later in the first half. We threw the ball around, ran the ball well and played good defense. We allowed them to pop one right there before the half and I was a little disappointed in that, but the offense came right back and scored,” Scott said. “We came out to start the second half and took care of business and got a lot of young guys in there in the third quarter and (Cordova) kind of took advantage of that for a couple drives, but overall, I’m proud of our guys’ effort. Anytime you get a region win you’re very thankful for that so I’m just proud of the guys and how they fought tonight.”
The Good Hope Raiders will be back home next week as they gear up to face the Tanner Rattlers (Class 2A, Region 7).
Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
