WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Last week’s matchup between Mt. Tabor and Reagan was a rematch of a game the two teams played earlier this season.  Mt. Tabor walked away with a 21-7 victory back in August and Reagan aimed to walk away with a victory this time.

Unfortunately Mt. Tabor had other plans as they easily defeated the Raiders 41-12.

Before the two teams engaged in their rematch, some of the players on both sides had a little trash talk back and forth, but the players from Mt. Tabor said they wanted to do most of their talking on the field.  Early in the game, nerves seemed to get the better of the Spartans and they committed three turnovers in the first quarter.  Reagan was not able to capitalize on the Mt. Tabor miscues as the first quarter was 7-0 Spartan lead.

The second quarter was a different story as Mt. Tabor settled down on offense and was able to establish their running game with quarterback Rashad Hague, who scored three touchdowns, and some dynamic plays from Jaquan Albright, who scored twice himself.  Albright would have scored more but had two touchdowns called back because of offensive penalties.

Mt. Tabor head coach Mike Lovelace was happy with how his team was able to bounce back from early adversity.  He was also pleased with the offensive performance of his team, especially with playmaker Zyquez McMillian not playing.“I thought we played well.  In the first quarter, we turned it over three times, but I think all in all we continue to get better each week.  Coach Brown has done a great job with the defense, and offensively we are just starting to click,” said  Lovelace.  “One of the things we’ve preached to them is make sure we get to the next play and don’t worry about what has happened in the past. Our guys believe right now and they’re having fun, and that’s what high school football is all about.”

Reagan was able to keep it close early in the first half by scoring a touchdown that brought the score to 14-6 in the second quarter.  They were unable to sustain any long drives following that score as the Mt Tabor defense was able to create turnovers and make big stops on third down.

“The defense has been ‘lights out.’ They do a lot of different varieties of cover-ages and they bring a lot of pressure and they’re very athletic.  Anytime we score two or three touchdowns in a game, I feel like we have a chance to win,” Lovelace continued.

In the second half, the Raiders were unable to stop the running game from the Spartans.  The constant pressure wore down the Reagan defenders as the game wore on. Reagan JV head coach Chris McCoy said his team and coaching staff were disappointed with the result of the game, but knows they are better that what the score showed. “Tonight, we were inspired at the beginning and we had a great week of practice. It was just a sense of physicality, they brought it and we didn’t,” said McCoy.  “Defensively they just played hard but a lot of it was just miscues on our end and they capitalized on them.  When we get behind the chains like we did tonight, its hard for us to move the ball.”

The Raiders continued to play hard the entire game even when the score became out of hand.  The were able to score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when quarterback Riley White ran it in from the four yard line with :22 left in the game.

“The motto at Reagan is, how long it is or however long it takes or no matter how much time is left on the clock, no matter what the score is, we play hard ’til the bitter end,” says McCoy.

Moving forward, McCoy says his team has some positives to take from this game and they will grow from this experience.

Lovelace wanted to stress the fact they are not a one-man team and that his team is full of athletes.  He says with a defense like they have, his team can go a long way.