The Portland Raider Freshman Football Team packed up their gear and headed north Thursday for a fall gridiron matchup in Cadillac, where they handily beat the Cavaliers, by a score of 28-0.
Barrett Brennan got things started for the Raiders in the first quarter with a strong touchdown run. Evan Simon then added a two-point conversion with 3:59 to go in the first quarter, making it Portland 8, Cadillac 0. The game progressed rather slowly at the onset, with the teams trading hits and possessions. However, the dominant Raider Offensive line opened a lane for Mason McGregor as he scampered through the Cadillac defenders, and outran the safety for a 75-yard touchdown with 4:30 left in the second quarter. The Raiders missed the extra point, making the score 14 to 0, at halftime. When the game resumed in the second half, Cadillac still couldn't get anything going on offense against the resilient Raider defensive package. As a result, the Raider offense abruptly returned to the field with Portland's Mason McGregor finishing a 'multiple-back' lead drive, running 30 yards for his 2nd touchdown of the day, making the score 22-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Raider defense was expectedly still 'on-point' as the fourth quarter began, quickly and dominantly forcing a Cadillac fumble. Tyler Smith excitedly arose from a pile of Cavaliers with the recovered ball. The Raiders then closed this game out by adding a final touchdown, with Barrett Brennan scoring on a ground-shaking, goal-line run at 9:44 left on the scoreboard, in this closing quarter of the meeting. The drive was the final score in the "KIZZ Country" contest, as the Raiders won the game, 28-0 over Cadillac.
This week's "Hard-Hit Heroes" awards go to Tyler Smith on a 'star-seeing' quarterback sack, Bryce Fullet on a quaking backfield tackle, Evan Simon on a pounding defensive wallop, Cade Lockwood on a Kickoff return smackdown, and Evan Gross on a leveling defensive hit.
The Raiders improved to 6-1 on the season.