Raiders finally put away Lions, sweep season series

Everything seemed to be going the Raiders' way, as they took a 28 point lead early in the fourth quarter thanks to a dominant defense and an efficient offense.  But the Columbus Lions had other thoughts and scored 41 points in the final 13 minutes, forcing the Raiders to hang on to a 74-64 win in the teams' final regular season meeting.

In a glimpse of the scoring onslaught later to come, both teams wasted little time the first time they had the ball. The Lions took two plays to get in the end zone, the Raiders one, but the Lions blinked first on their second drive as they settled for a field goal.  Antwon Young ran in from nine yards, then after the Lions missed a field goal and Young threw a 14 yard TD to Herb Jones, the Raiders had their biggest lead of the first half at 19-10.

Columbus QB Randy Hippeard found his rhythm in the second quarter, throwing 30 yard touchdowns on consecutive plays sandwiching a T.C. Stevens field goal to put the Lions back on top by one, thanks to a Chandler Brooks uno.  Not to be outdone, Young threw his fourth touchdown pass of the half, a 20-yarder to Hakeem Moore, putting the Raiders back on top by six.  That would be the halftime margin as each team missed a field goal to close the first half.

The Raiders dominated the third quarter, opening with an eight play, 30 yard drive that took over five minutes before Young took it in from the one and Stevens notched an uno to put Richmond up by 14 and force Columbus to start from their own five.  The first snap of their drive was a low bouncer that Hippeard couldn't pick up as it ricocheted off the back wall, and Preston Hines fell on it for a touchdown.  Another uno backed up the Lions again, and again their first play was a turnover with Ke'Mon Bailey, playing his first game of the year, picked off Hippeard.  The Raiders couldn't capitalize as Stevens blasted a field goal into a down lineman, and Columbus got off the deck to put together a six play drive that ended on the Raider one-inch line when Hippeard, trying to score on a QB keeper, was ruled to have fumbled before crossing the goal line.

The Raiders capped off a 22-0 run over the first 15:30 of the second half -- which extended to a 29-0 run over 23 minutes dating back to the first half -- when Herb Jones caught a desperation screen pass from Young, who had fumbled the snap, and ran 12 yards to paydirt before fumbling.  Now in the fourth quarter, Jones' fumble happened in almost the exact same spot as Hippeard's, with the only difference being the score/no score calls.  Now leading 51-23, the Raiders defense -- which was missing starters Lawrence Lewis (season ending injury), Maurice Thorne, Michael Woodhouse, and Chris Johnson -- could ill afford to assume a victory because the Lions were just getting started.  Hippeard threw touchdowns of 28 and 38 yards to Maurice Dupree on consecutive plays thanks to an onside kick recovery to pull Columbus within 14 with 12 minutes left.

Now in comeback mode, the Lions would try five more onside kickoffs through the end of the game, but recover none of them as Brooks' bouncers consistently went a few yards too many downfield, enabling clean catches by the Raiders before any Lions could get close.  Hippeard wasted little time looking deep, getting touchdowns on one-play drives four times, coupled with a drive each of two and three plays in a fourth quarter that saw him go 8-for-9 passing for 188 yards and six touchdowns.  The Raiders, despite their best efforts, just couldn't run out the clock as Jordan Pavlisin scored two rushing TDs in the final minute to ensure Columbus would never get closer than 10 points.  Hippeard set single game league records for passing yards and TDs, but the Raiders got the win and the all important tiebreaker in the head to head matchup.

Player of the Game: Antwon Young, who threw for five touchdowns, ran for two more, and upped his league-leading TD to interception ratio to 39-3.

Offensive Stars: Herb Jones had two touchdowns among his nine catches, Jordan Pavlisin carried the ball eight times for 35 yards and two scores in his first home game, T.C. Stevens was shaky on extra points but had two huge unos that gave the Raider defense field position to force turnovers.

Defensive Stars: Preston Hines had the fumble recovery TD and a sack, Brent Trice recovered the controversial Hippeard fumble to end a Lion threat.

Other Links:

• Times-Dispatch article
• Raiders website recap
• Columbus Ledger blurb
• Lions website writeup

Next: at Alabama, 6/2, 8pm

Last-second TD gives Raiders split with 'Bucs

The Raiders gave the PIFL's most rush-heavy team a taste of their own medicine and got the last score of a back-and-forth 4th quarter to avenge their loss in the last meeting, beating the Louisiana Swashbucklers 50-43.

In a clash of opposing offensive styles, the grind-it-out Swashbucklers scored on the first play of the game when Freddie Harrison tossed a 30 yard bomb to Jordan Rideaux.  The Raiders responded with a 5 play, 30 yard drive that put them up 8-7 after an Antwun Williams TD catch and a PAT and uno by T.C. Stevens.  Before more confusion could set in on which team was wearing which uniforms, the 'Bucs returned to form with a nine play drive that netted no points, as the teams would trade missed field goals on their respective second possessions.  RoShawn Marshall picked off Harrison to set up a field goal that left the Raiders wanting more, after moving from the Louisiana 6 to their own 22 thanks to penalties, including a questionable personal foul that negated a touchdown.

Louisiana's offense got back on track in the second quarter as they continued to use the passing game almost exclusively.  Harrison threw touchdown passes to Rideaux and Sammy Knight, while Antwon Young ran in from a yard out to help the Raiders keep pace, and Richmond found themselves down by 2, 20-18, at the one minute warning.  They bled as much time as possible but again were hampered by penalties, which forced a 36 yard field goal attempt that Stevens missed with six seconds to go.

A Blake Berdegeay uno on the second half kickoff put the Swashbucklers up by 3, but the unfazed Raider offense moved 45 yards in five plays, and when Young threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Jason Lovett, the Raiders once again had a four point lead.  The 'Bucs went back out in front on Harrison's fourth touchdown pass of the game, but the Raiders had to settle for a tying field goal when the Louisiana defense held strong on three straight plays from their four yard line.  Neither team could grab immediate momentum as both sides went four and out to end the third quarter.

A turning point in the game came early in the fourth quarter when Bercegeay lined up for a 48 yard field goal -- after being put behind the sticks on a first down sack -- and the low trajectory kick was blocked by Michael Woodhouse to set the Raiders up at the Swashbucklers' three yard line.  Two plays later, Herb Jones caught a short scoring pass and another Stevens uno gave the Raiders an 8 point lead.  The 'Bucs dug deep and engineered a seven play, 45 yard drive with Harrison finding Rideaux and Kendrick Perry for the touchdown and two point conversion respectively to tie the game midway through the quarter.  Young and Jones provided all the Raider offense on the ensuing possession -- including another touchdown called back on a penalty -- and when they scored to go up 7 with 2:43 remaining, the exciting final exchange was set up.  Louisiana got to the Raider one yard line at the one minute warning when Marshall made a touchdown-saving tackle, and with so little room to bleed the clock without scoring, left 55 seconds after Knight scored the team's only rushing touchdown of the night.  The Raiders, more concerned with scoring than with clock management, used mostly passes to get to the 'Bucs 14, and on third down Young bought lots of time by shifting in the pocket before throwing a strike to Williams in the back of the end zone with just 8 seconds left.  Two desperation Swashbuckler passes went incomplete, and the Raiders remained undefeated at home.

Player of the Game: Antwon Young, who threw for four TDs and ran for two more, singlehandedly running for more yards and more scores than the entire offense of the league's most prolific rushing team.

Offensive Stars: Hakeem Moore had a couple of long receptions among his team-high six for 95 yards; Antwun Williams was efficient, scoring TDs on two of his three catches; T.C. Stevens was perfect on PATs, made two field goals, and added two unos.

Defensive Stars: RoShawn Marshall had an interception and the game-ending deflected pass; Michael Woodhouse blocked his fourth kick of the year.

Other Links:

• Times-Dispatch article
• Raider website writeup
• Swashbuckler website recap

Next: at Alabama, Friday, 8pm

Raiders 2012 season

Raider game summaries for the first three home games of 2012 can be seen here, here, and here.

For good measure, summaries for 2010 and 2011 are available too.