StraightShooter

Raiders barely miss on 3rd down pass from Verax to Lorms. Blocked 36-yard FG and great hustle by Landon Lorms to save another easy TD. 1st and goal at 8. Yates with 2 yard run on 2 and goal. 35-14 X with 1 minute left in 2 Q. 3 easy TDs is a killer. 

One first down by Raiders then punt on 4 and 4. Knuckleball punt fumbled by X returner and recovered by Nate Verax at X 33.

X goes for it on 4 and 4 from Ryle 24. Pass slightly overthrown and Ryle takes over on downs at own 24.

Ryle finally putting a nice drive together starting at about own 20 and overcoming a holding call. Big play was a really nice escape and 33 yard pass by Verax. X stuffed Ryle for a 3-yard loss on 4 and 1 at the 13. Then nice fourth down completion by Verax. About an 80-yard drive for a TD with most all of the yards on the ground. Verax with a sneak for the TD. 28-14 X with 7:48 left in 2Q.

Another St X drive for TD with 16 ticks left in 1Q. 28-7 X.

Does Grant have a turf field?

Another 3 and out by Ryle. 5 penalty yards and one pass of 8 yards then a sack on third down. Punt and X takes over at Ryle 41.

Bad drive including a third down fumble recovered by Ryle at their own 3 or 4. Punt return for a TD with 3:56 left in 1Q. 21-7 X. Two easy scores is a recipe for disaster:

St X completes 2 short passes plus a run. 2 yards on the drive. 3 and out. Punt fair catch at Ryle 17.

St X is doing a good job of directional kickoffs. Ryle starts at own 16 and gets 8 yards. Good punt coverage and no return by X

Ryle starts at own 16. Bad snap on first down recovered by X in end zone for a TD. 14-7 X. 8:28 1Q. 

Answer by St X after a 39 yard kickoff return. 2 short pass completions but Yates did most of the damage in the ground.  8:41 1Q 7-7.

I’ll update after each drive.

Ryle first play from scrimmage 76 yard TD pass. 7-0 Raiders.

This will be an absolute head knocker. Turnovers and composure will be keys. Neither team winning would surprise me, especially with the game at Dixie. If it’s not close, it’s a bluebird kind of night. I can only see Dixie winning by the narrowest of margins. The Red Colonels have had 3 weeks to prepare essentially and should unveil some new wrinkles. Edgewood is the place to be Friday night (Rice Mountjoy, not St E). Good luck to both teams.

What a difficult year for WV.  That’s really bad luck and unexplainable. Best wishes to the Bearcats for keeping morale up while down so many key players.

My comments with no rooting interest:

1)Thanks to 859 Sports for the TV broadcast. 

2)Kudos to both teams for playing hard for 48 minutes.

3)Birds had control the entire game until the ill-advised Pick 6 when they could have taken an insurmountable 4 TD lead late by running the ball.

4)Cam O’Hara threw some great balls and the Cooper receivers did a super job.

5)A potential rematch in cold weather highly favors the Birds due to their ground game. It’s much harder to pitch and catch on a cold night.

6)There are 3 State Top 5 or so 5A teams in our NKY 5A district. Dixie is capable of beating either team and winning the district.

7)Benke was game MVP.

8)Austin Alexander is outstanding and both teams have some great players.

Terrific and entertaining game!

I would think that Dixie shows nothing new in this game and wins easily with basic plays. I’m sure they have been working on wrinkles for 2 weeks they will continue to refine next week and unveil vs Highlands.

Shocked if this is not a running clock.

I expect a close game. Don’t be fooled by looking at comparative scores against Ryle. A Cooper upset is possible.

Ryle played well against CAL, holding the lead for over 3 quarters. The turnovers cost them - credit to CAL on  forcing 2 of them. I don’t hold a fatalistic view of the season with this young squad playing only 2-3 seniors. Certainly, St X is heavily favored after the bye week. But I look for the Raiders to beat Campbell, Great Crossing and SK to win the district. Dixie game will be a toss up. So 5-5 or 6-4 heading to the playoffs. 

Eddie makes half time adjustments consistently well. 

Congrats to Corbin. Recap sounded like a major lack of discipline hurt FD.

Raiders played hard but 4 turnovers including 3 deep in your own territory were killers. The scoop and score by CAL with less than one minute to play was icing on the turnover fest. Hotly contested hard-hitting game. QB Hodge was the obvious difference maker. Congrats to CAL.

Great game by Male. This is not the T we are used to seeing.