Published: October 15, 2008 03:07 pm            

Raiders rocked in 43-16 loss on Senior Night

The Raiders back-to-back wins and AP ranking gave McCreary Central something to be proud of going into the Rockcastle County game.

But the Rockets promptly knocked the win out of the Raiders’ sails on a rare Thursday night game, when McCreary Central said good-bye to its seniors, two of which were sidelined for the game.

With both Rusty Neal (injury) and Travis Siler (suspension) on the sidelines, the Raider run defense was short-handed, and it showed as Rockcastle County rolled to a 43-16 win over the Raiders.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some positives to come out of the loss to the Rockets though.

The game looked to be interesting early on. After watching the Rockets score on their opening drive, the Raiders responded with a touchdown of their own.

Quarterback Aaron Watts rolled out to the right and found a wide open Dustin Goins downfield for a long touchdown pass.

The two hooked up again on the very next play when Watts drilled a pass between a pair of Rockcastle County defenders that Goins was able to grab for the two-point conversion.

With the game tied at 8-8, the Raiders attempted their second on-side kick of the night , this time recovering the ball and seemingly gaining some momentum.

That was short-lived though, as the very first snap of the drive was over Watts’ head and recovered by Rockcastle County.

From that point on, it seemed to be downhill for the Raiders. The defense failed to stop the Rockets on their next two drives as the visiting team took a quick 22-8 lead over the Raiders.

Zack Roark was able to run one in for a touchdown and Watts added a run on the two-point conversion for the Raiders final score of the night, but McCreary Central would get no closer.

Roark was out of the game in the second half after spraining his wrist, which didn’t help the Raiders offense, but the defense seemed to pull together and kept the Rockets from running away with the game like last season.

While the 43-16 score might indicate a bad loss, the game was closer in some regards. The Raiders were at least able to move the ball on Rockcastle, which is something that did not happen at all in last year’s meeting, which the Rockets won 51-0.

While there is no question that Rockcastle County was the better team, the Raiders also proved they are a much improved team this season with the loss Thursday night.

When you take into account that Neal — who by most accounts is the Raiders top defensive lineman — out, it was difficult to stop the Rock running game. Then Roark goes out, and the Raiders still stay within 27 points to Rockcastle County. That says a lot about the direction of the football team, especially compared to the recent past.

The loss drops the Raiders to 4-3 on the season and to 1-2 in district games. The lone district win over Madison Southern gives the Raiders their second straight berth in the playoffs. The team travels to Pineville on Friday night.

        

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