Raiders fall; clinch second in SAC-6

The Midway Raiders traveled to St. Pauls to take on the Bulldogs for the SAC-6 conference championship, but the hometown team was too much for the Raiders as they fell to St. Pauls, 59-22.

Midway kicked off to the Bulldogs to open the game up, and St. Pauls had a decent return that was called back due to a penalty on the return, which set the tone for the night. This gave the Bulldogs first and ten at their own 18 yard line.

St. Pauls tried digging themselves out from being pinned deep, but to no avail. A big third down stop in the backfield from Wyatt Scott, Jayden Stox, and Ryan Naylor led to the Bulldogs punting on fourth-and-short.

Midway took over at St. Pauls’ 45. Third-and-long prompted the unique “swinging gate” formation from the Raiders, but Tanner Williams couldn’t connect with his receiver on the pass. A fake punt from Midway came on fourth-and-short, but the ball carrier was short of the line to gain, giving it back to St. Pauls.

The Bulldogs took over near midfield, and pushed downfield quickly, but an illegal procedure penalty stalled their drive in the red zone. Thomas Perez had a big backfield tackle on second down that further stalled things out for St. Pauls. A long field goal attempt was good, and it was the Bulldogs over the Raiders, 3-0, with 4:46 left in the first.

An illegal procedure penalty on the kickoff pushed the kick back 10 yards and Ke’Mari McNeil used that to his advantage, running 90 yards down the field for the touchdown. Fourteen seconds after the first score of the night, the Raiders led 8-3 on a successful two-point try at the 4:32 mark.

Like two heavyweights in a boxing match, Midway was called for an illegal procedure in their kickoff, which forced the kick back 10 yards, and St. Pauls returned the favor on the kickoff, taking it to the house. In 30 seconds of game play, there were three lead changes. After an unsuccessful two-point try, the Bulldogs led 9-8 at the 4:17 mark.

The injury bug struck Midway early as both Gehemiah Blue and John Williams were out for the game in the first quarter with injuries — Blue with a shoulder injury and Williams with something in his lower leg. He was carted off the field and didn’t come back to the sidelines the rest of the game.

Midway took a possession that stalled around midfield and gave the Bulldogs the ball once more, as the influx of scoring subsided. This paid off for the hometown Bulldogs, as they capitalized on good field position to eventually scoot into the end zone. A successful PAT gave them the 16-8 lead over the visiting Raiders with 25 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Injuries and penalties were the bane of Midway’s existence, as they continued to pile up for the Raiders. A blindside block on the kickoff gave them first-and-ten from their own eight yard line.

The quarter ended with the same score and just one play post-kick, and the long field flipped for Midway. This wasn’t aided in any fashion when Tanner Williams took a safety out the back of the end zone with 11:47 left in the first half, giving St. Pauls an 18-8 lead and possession back on a short field after the safety kick.

The Bulldogs capitalized on the short field and just one play later scored again. 11:38 remaining in the second quarter the scoreboard showed, and so did a 24-8 St. Pauls’ lead.

Midway switched to a jumbo wishbone wildcat, with McNeil taking the snaps out of their shotgun variation of this formation, primarily running the ball. Marginal gains were to be had, but not enough, and they were stopped on fourth near midfield.

And, like clockwork, St. Pauls scored again on their first play. A long throw-and-catch gave them the 31-8 lead after the PAT with 7:16 remaining.

Reprieve came for the Raiders as Nathue Myles took the ensuing kickoff deep into Bulldog territory, and it set up shop for the Raiders at St. Pauls’ 24 yard line. Injuries continued to pile up as Dakota Bedard was helped off the field after a play.

Jayden Stox breathed new life into Midway on a powerful run up the left side that seemingly carried half of Robeson County with him. This allowed McNeil to get into the end zone with about 5:30 to go in the opening half, and the two-point was successful. This made it a 31-16 ball game.

A short field for the Bulldogs, courtesy of a long run back on the kickoff, set them up for their next score, a QB scamper. A minute didn’t even tick off the clock, and St. Pauls extended their lead back to 38-16 with 4:38 left.

Faced with third-and-nine, Barrett Sloan signaled for the team’s second timeout of the half to talk with his team. Midway didn’t convert, and faced with the same yardage on fourth down, they elected to punt. A penalty pushed them back, and on the re-kick, they were flagged for another.

It took just one play for the Bulldogs to find the zone once more, but a holding call saved the Raiders from having the scoreboard lit up for an even bigger deficit. Midway got some more reprieve as they managed to stop St. Pauls deep in their own territory after the touchdown was called back. A short punt gave them the ball at their own 36 with 1:12 left on the clock.

A tripping penalty forced them back fifteen yards on their first play of the drive. This pushed them back to first-and-25, which turned out to be another drive-killer. This effectively killed the rest of the first half, too, as Sloan and company took the clock down to zero, with the same 38-16 score as before.

The Raiders came out in the second half receiving the ball. They stuck with their version of the wishbone with McNeil at QB that they had executed with decent success in the first half at first, but soon switched back to their regular offensive set on third-and-medium.

St. Pauls found pay dirt once again, but in style for this game, it was called back on another penalty. And this time, Midway came up with the big play as Caleb Hall got the interception with a big return down to the Bulldogs’ 28.

The drive stalled, again, on fourth-and-long, but not before Ryan McNeil hit the turf in pain. An unsuccessful fourth down conversion took place after the injury timeout, and gave possession back to the ‘Dogs.

St. Pauls scored quickly, making it 45-16 with 4:36 left in the third.

Barrett Sloan dug deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out the infamous ‘hook and ladder’ play, which McNeil was on the receiving end of after the lateral. He took it for the long touchdown, and a failed two-point conversion made it 45-22 with 3:18 to go in the third.

The Bulldogs would score on their next possession, making it 52-22 and three minutes to go in the third quarter. They doubled up again before the quarter ended, striking on a pass in the end zone. That made it 59-22 with 57 seconds to go in the third.

Midway was faced with less-than-ideal field position for most of the second half, which squandered any attempt at a comeback from the Raiders.

The teams traded possessions throughout the fourth quarter and the game went final with the same score, 59-22.

Midway moves to 8-2 on the season and 4-1 in the SAC-6 as they took second place. They’re off next week as it sits, and will be awaiting playoff seeding.