AMERICUS —
The Southland Raiders were hoping to end their season on a high note by defeating arch rival Deerfield-Windsor on Friday night inside of Harvey Simpson Stadium on the campus of Southland Academy. Unfortunately for the Raiders, Deerfield came into the contest well prepared, and they added the Raiders to their steadily growing list of defeated opponents with a 41-13 victory in Americus.
The Raiders knew that Deerfield would be a tough test as the Knights entered the contest with an eight game winning streak. The Raiders kept the game very close in the first quarter with a long opening drive, but the Knights would put their foot on the gas in the second quarter to stretch their lead and take control of the game.
Southland would take the opening kick to their own 32 yard line, and they would pound the ball to the Deerfield 48 before facing a fourth and one situation. The Raiders would run a fake punt to Hunter Weldon who rumbled ahead to the Deerfield 44 for the first down. After losing several yards on penalties and negative plays, the Raiders were forced to punt again but a bobbled snap would give the Knights excellent field position at the Southland 37.
Deerfield would score in five plays with a touchdown run by Kh’Ron McClain to take a 7-0 lead, but the Raiders would again start a long drive on their next possession to threaten the Knight lead.
The next Southland drive would stall out at the Deerfield 33, and the Knights would again take advantage of the stop by adding another touchdown. After driving down the field, McClain would cap off the Knight drive with a touchdown to make the lead 13-0. The Knights would quickly add two more touchdowns with a 22 yard pass and a 40 yard pass to take a commanding 27-0 lead into the halftime break.
The third quarter would also belong to the Knights as they added two more touchdowns to stretch their lead to 41-0. Southland would then find some offense in the final quarter when quarterback Jon Adkins capped off a seven play, 30 yard drive with a four yard touchdown run with 9:14 left in the game to make the score 41-6. Sophomore running back Colt Stephens added another score on a two yard touchdown run with 13.1 seconds left to narrow the margin to 41-13 following the Cleve Bass extra point.
Andrew Alexander finished his final game as a Raider as the leading rusher with 89 yards against a very tough Knight defense. Bryce Driver was second on the team with 30 yards on only five carries. Mitch Eason led the Raiders defense with six tackles and a forced fumble, followed by Ford Roach and Andrew Alexander with five tackles each. Dustin Shattles added three tackles and a forced fumble with a fumble recovery as well.
The loss ends what started as a very promising season for the Raiders who knocked off defending state champion Tattnall Square to start the season. The Raiders followed that victory with four more convincing wins to move to 5-0 before dropping five of their last six games to narrowly miss the playoffs. Southland finishes the season 6-5, with a 1-4 Region 1-AAA record.
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Mitch Easom (16) and Ryan Weaver (5) combine to stop Deerfield quarterback Dallas Margeson in the Raiders season-ending 41-13 loss to Deerfield-Windsor on Friday. Scott Phillips
Raiders fall behind early in 41-13 loss to Deerfield
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