The Racine Raiders (6-0) routed the River City Rough Riders of LaCrosse (0-6) 69-0 in front of nearly 800 fans at Horlick Field Saturday night.
Torie Ruffin (Concordia University) set the tone for the Raiders defense by picking off the first two passes thrown by Rough Riders quarterback Jed Neal.
Racine took advantage of the first interception when kicker Ben Aguilar (North Central College) booted a 47-yard field goal with 5:55 left in the first quarter.
Raiders linebacker Michael Leeman (Carroll College) took advantage of a bad snap on a Rough Riders punt attempt and ran the ball into the end zone early in the second quarter. Aguilar converted the extra point attempt to give the Raiders a 10-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, River City botched a snap on a punt and the ball went sailing out of the end zone, giving Racine 12-0 lead.
With 12:32 remaining in the first half, running back Eric Ervin (Westwood College) broke a run 65 yards for a touchdown.
The Raiders' dominance continued when Charles Owens (Eastern Illinois University) returned a Rough Riders punt 90 yards for a touchdown. After the extra point attempt, the Raiders led 26-0.
The Raiders momentum continued into the third quarter when Ervin ran the ball 13 yards for his second touchdown of the night less then a minute into the quarter.
A minute later, defensive lineman Brandon Hearns (Loras College) recovered a fumble which lead to a four-yard touchdown run by fullback Adam Chorazy (Monmouth College).
The Raiders' defense helped add to the rout when defensive back Philip Despopolous (Broken Bow High School, Oklahoma) sacked Rough Riders quarterback Julius Shelton in the end zone for the Raiders' second safety of the game and giving Racine a 41-0 lead with 5:08 to play in the third quarter.
Just two minutes later, quarterback Brett Hall (University of Albany) completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Justin Miles (St. Norbert's College), extending the Raiders lead to 48-0.
Raiders' linebacker Will Caldwell scored a touchdown with 45 seconds left on the clock when he recovered a loose ball in the Rough Riders' end zone to extend the Raider lead to 55 points.
Caldwell would also recover another fumble on the Rough Riders' next play from scrimmage. The turnover led to another Raiders touchdown as backup quarterback Ron Ricciardi (Florida State University) hit wide receiver Curtis “Flash” Gordon (Greenville College) on a four-yard pass.
The Raiders scored the final touchdown of the game when defensive lineman Brandon Rogers (Tennessee State University) recovered a Rough Riders fumble and lateraled the ball to safety George Carpenter (Concordia University) who took the ball into the end zone from 45 yards out, giving the Raiders a 69-0 victory.
The Raider ground attack was led by Bryan Jennings, Jr. (Vermillion Community College) who gained 109 yards on just ten carries and Ervin who gained 93 yards on six carries. Jennings and Ervin entered the game first and tenth in rushing, respectively, in the North American Football League.
Hall completed 13 of 20 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown in his first start of the season. Gordon led all receivers with five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
The defense was equally as impressive holding the Rough Riders to 30 total yards; 22 rushing and 8 passing.
The Raiders hit the road for the next two weeks. They travel to Pecatonica, IL, next week to battle the Roscoe Rush (9-0) and then go to Dubuque, IA, to play the Dubuque Bruisers (4-2).
The Raiders will return home on August 29 to play the Traverse City Wolves (4-0).
Hell Yeah!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, who cares.
ReplyDeleteDustin and Pete - why not cover some real sports like the County open - oh that's right, you guys don't care about golf. You'd rather cover these low life, have been jocks.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Complainer-
ReplyDeleteWhy not volunteer to cover it for them? They're only two people! The reason the Raiders get their articles published is they send a ready-to-print press release to the Racine Post as well as many other media outlets.
You want the County Open covered? Email Dustin and Pete and volunteer to do it. Instead of complaining, do something!
Don are you Dustin and Pete's spoke person. Can't they speak for themselves?
ReplyDeleteDon - so if you don't send the news to them, they won't cover it? They cover what interests them and then put their political spin on it.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they know you are right, they will not respond because they know they do not have a leg to stand on.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:01. It would be theft if we simply copied a Journal Times story and printed it on our site, so please don't do that again.
ReplyDeleteI understand your interest in golf. Sadly, we don't share it -- and as has been mentioned by others who've responded to your comments -- we cannot cover everything. If you want to cover golf for us, let me know offline and we'll talk about it.
For the rest of you who might be interested in the Racine County men's open championship Sunday, Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times had a fine story.
HERE.
No, I speak for myself. Some of us choose to take action so that the complainers can move on to another topic to complain about. It keeps them busy and keeps me motivated.
ReplyDeleteAs for what they cover, it's their business enterprise and that's up to them. Two people can't cover a metropolitan area of about 200,000.
You know how much stuff in news is rip and publish now? Is the golf tournament a big story? Are the Raiders a big story (as much as I'd like them to be)? No, quite honestly, neither is. Thus, I do what I can to make sure that it's easy for people like Dustin and Pete to cover something that I care about. I challenge you to do the same.
I don't understand your explanation - you print JT's and other source stories all the time. You say you don't share my interest in golf, well it's not just my interest, it is probably the number 1 participation sport in the country and Racine. I guess you'd rather cover sports stories of has been, looser football players.
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting to check all these Raiders on CCAP - how many do you think we'll find?
ReplyDeleteMaybe start with Will Caldwell.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:03 Must you start calling uninvolved people names just because you don't get your way?
ReplyDeletePete if you want to support thugs -that's your business. What was wrong with my comment - it's the truth. Take a look at CCAPS all those players are listed. Support those guys and skip a story on an All American kind of guy that wins the Racine County tournament. I have no respect for you.
ReplyDeletePete furthermore, you say "calling uninvolved people names." They are involved you put their names in the article and I did not call them names, I was just pointing out there past criminal ways. They should be playing against Correction Teams.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:40. You called them "bums."
ReplyDeleteThey're uninvolved in the sense that your whole beef is that we've not covered something that YOU want us to cover.
When your name is on my paycheck, please write again. Until then...
Thugs and then you call out Will Caldwell? Do you know ANYTHING about Will Caldwell? It would be the equivalent to me calling O'Brien a thug. If you knew anything about Will and his family,you would feel like a schmuck.
ReplyDeleteEven if you find someone on CCAP, here are the Raiders providing a constructive release for these adults that might be considered at-risk.
Pick what side of the fence you're going to be on because when you keep jumping over it, eventually you're going to trip and fall flat on your face. ;)
Many of these players have criminal backgrounds and should not be held up as role models around the community. Why is Racine so accepting of criminals - there are so many good people we should support over these thugs. And Pete buddy, nice way to hide this article - how many people even know you have a sports section hidden down at the bottom of your website - any reason why the instant move of this article to sports? Normally these lead stories are here for days. Just trying to hide the truth? And finally my name should not have to be on your pay check for you to print the truth. I have given you the real story about many of these players and you have decided to "hide" it from the news.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:32. Nothing is hidden. Sports has been there since 2007... We move stories below, to the appropriate section, after a few days up top. "Instant?" The story was atop our page for two days.
ReplyDeleteBut let me get this straight: While you hide behind anonymity, you want us to print the CCAP history of everyone else we write about -- or maybe just the athletes, or specifically the Raiders?
Get real.
Print my CCAP history. I'm probably the biggest thug out there according to Anonymous. ;)
ReplyDeletePete - I'd be happy to call you and identify myself as long as you pledge to do a story about the Raiders and their criminal backgrounds. By the way, after I call you, you can look for me on CCAP - you will not find me out there - not even a speeding ticket. So do we have a deal?
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:19. What you need is your own website, so you can do the stories you want to do.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have plenty of time on your hands... go to it! Frankly, my dear, I don't give a darn.
Pete - I made you an offer - apparently you are a woose who wants to support corrupt footbal players with criminal records in the community. I'll call you when one of these guys kills someone in a drunken driving offense, or when one of them gets charged for battery against his girl friend, or one of them get busted for drugs or robbery.
ReplyDeletemore than criminal records anonymous. For instance, I'm listed on there twice because I had roommates in college who said they were paying bills that were in my name and weren't. I'm probably a thug according to you since I have TWO listings on CCAP.
ReplyDeletePeople change. Activities like these give young adults something to do. Get 100 people together anywhere and I'm sure there are a couple you will find on CCAP.
I'm sure you've never been in a situation that you got out of unscathed that you are thankful you don't have a CCAP entry. If you're anywhere close to "normal" and attended college, like most of the guys on the Raiders, you had those moments. Some people aren't as lucky as you.
Don - 2 out of 100, the numbers are much greater than that. Take a look at most of the names in this article and you'll find them on CCAP. As I said previously these guys should be playing correctional teams. And by the way, I am a college graduate and NOT on CCAPS.
ReplyDeleteMOST? You'd make a horrible journalist my friend. I know the backgrounds on the players. I believe you wouldn't find 14 out of 15 in this article on CCAP for anything other than a moving violation. Thanks for playing...Your credibility is now GONE! ZERO. NADA. Too funny. Thanks for making my day by giving a generality and having it be completely false. Are you in talk radio? You should be if you're not because half truths are the name of the game there (regardless of what side of the fence you listen to). hahaha...Man, I can't stop laughing. To dedicate your life to this and come up with egg on your face just has to be humiliating. Man, would you like some bacon to go with that? In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon!"
ReplyDelete