WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

The Reagan Raiders looked to continue their winning trend against North Forsyth last Thursday and they did just that.  The Raiders defeated North Forsyth by the score of 19-6, with a great first quarter in which they scored 13 points and never looked back.

After suffering a Week 1 loss to Mt. Tabor, Reagan bounced back to defeat Glenn in Week 2. North Forsyth, on the other hand, was looking for its first victory of the season after the Week 1 loss to Glenn.

Reagan took the opening kickoff and methodically drove the ball down the field with quick passes from quarterback Gabriel Hollingsworth and a strong running game.  The Raiders had the Viking defense off balance the entire drive as they could not stop the Raider offense.  The Raiders scored on a run from freshman running back D.J. Moyer to take a 7-0 lead.

As for North Forsyth, the team continued to have trouble moving the football against the Raider defense the same way they had against Glenn in Week 1.  Viking running back Darius Williams ran hard but found little daylight early to try and gain any momentum.

Having to punt following a 3 and out Raider punt returner Brendon Mills returned the punt all the way to the 12 yard line, setting up another touchdown from Hollingsworth to Zavion Hamilton, making the score 13-0 after a failed point after try.

“The game plan was to start off the game with the defense setting the tone and the offensive guys came out hungry and focused,” said Chris McCoy, Reagan JV Head Coach.  “We executed very well and we stuck to the game plan, and we put points on the board.”

The start of the second quarter seemed to wake the Viking defense up as they did not surrender another point during the first half. Unfortunately, the Raider defense played equally well during at the same time, stifling the North Forsyth offense with great run defense and pressure on quarterback Marquez Hurst every time he dropped back to pass.

The North Forsyth offense continued to be plagued by offensive penalties that put the team’s offense in long yardage situations.  The Viking offense is run-dominated but having to start a drive with 1st and 15 or 2nd and 10 allowed the Raider defense to pin their ears back and rush the passer on obvious passing downs.

“We are still working on execution both offensively and defensively; it just didn’t go our way tonight,” says Corey Stewart, North Forsyth JV Head Coach. “Overall I’m happy with the performance the guys gave, but we have to clean up some of the execution mistakes and false start penalties.”

North Forsyth came out of the half and received the ball first in the third quarter. The offense second to have made adjustments from the first half as it started to run the ball off tackle and started gaining yardage against the Raider defense.  The offense held the ball for more than six minutes of the third but once again was bit by the penalty bug which caused their drive to end.

Reagan was able to drive the ball into Viking territory late in the third quarter but could not convert the drive into points as Reagan turned the ball over on downs. The Vikings took over but the Raider defense was unrelenting with their pressure causing North Forsyth to punt.  The Viking punt was blocked, setting up first down at the 16-yard line and Reagan scored another touchdown. making the score 19-0.

With time running out in the fourth quarter, North Forsyth quarterback Marquez Hurst hit wide receiver Brandon Davis with a quick hitch pass and Davis made one man miss and he was off to the races with an 80-yard touchdown catch bringing the score to 19-6.  That would be the last time they had the ball as Reagan recovered the onside kick and ran the clock out winning the game by the same score.

“We preach defense and defense wins ball games and that’s what we are hanging our hats on.  In the game of football defense is the more aggressive side of the ball and we ride with that and the guys focus on that and offense will catch up but we have work to do,” says McCoy.

Stewart wants to build off of the performance of the defense and wants his team to clean up their penalties on offense.  He says he saw some things he liked that his staff will look at on film before they take on Carver in next week’s matchup.  Reagan takes on East Forsyth next week.