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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021
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Tigers too much for banged up Raiders BY STAN MADDUX
he game was close for a while but, eventually, the Red Arrow Raiders gave in to the size and speed of their opponents in high school football. The Raiders (2-4) lost to Lawrence 64-12 in a home game at River Valley High School Friday, Oct. 8. The Raiders, which is made up of players from River Valley and New Buffalo High School, went into the game not only lacking the athletic ability of the Tigers. They were without dynamic starting quarterback Michael Bombin, who’s out for the season from a knee injury and Peyton Lijewski, who’s lost for at least a couple of games from an ankle injury. Both players, who were watching from the sidelines on crutches, were hurt during a game the previous week. Tough on defense, the Raiders held the Tigers scoreless until late in the first quarter, when quarterback Bol Bok gained 79 yards on a keeper up the middle. Bok was tackled just short of the goal line by Eli Thomas but on the next play ran the ball into the end zone. The Raiders quickly came back when freshman quarterback Ethan Lijewski and receiver Michael Flick hooked up for a 74-yard touchdown. The Tigers started the second quarter with a quick touchdown after intercepting a pass from Lijewski. Lawrence scored again on an 82yard gain from a screen pass to speedy
running back Christian Smith. The Raiders pulled to within 10 points on a quarterback sneak into the end zone from Thomas following a 56-yard gain along the sidelines by running back Ben Coffeen. Lawrence, though, responded with a 10-yard screen pass for a touchdown after Bok ran for a 39-yard gain. The Tigers then turned a fumble recovery after the kick off into a touchdown when Smith, after catching a short pass, streaked 55 yards into the end zone. Lawrence led at halftime 34-12 and never looked back. Raiders Head Coach Matt Johnson credited execution of the game plan for his team’s early success. He said Lawrence then discovered how to attack their defense hurt not only by the loss of Bombin, captain of the defense and fierce tackler at middle linebacker, but other injuries forcing junior varsity players to fill the gaps. “Give credit to them. They figured out where we were missing some of our starters and they exploited that,” he said. Johnson said his players losing focus mentally during the second half didn’t help matters. The Raiders play again Friday, Oct. 15, at Bloomingdale. Ethan Lijewski might not be able to play after suffering a possible concussion from a tremendous hit on a two-point conversion attempt.
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