The Midway Raiders were back under the Friday Night Lights of Tommy Sloan Stadium Friday, continuing their long home stand as they celebrated homecoming and another conference win, defeating Spring Creek 51-8.
Hosting the Swine Valley 2A/3A Conference opponent, the Raiders looked to build on last week’s conference-opening win over Princeton and keep their momentum rolling in league play.
The Gators, on the other hand, entered the contest with a vastly different start to their season. They’ve endured a tough stretch, marked by mounting losses, and through five games, Spring Creek has yet to find its footing. Their most recent setback — a 77–0 blowout at the hands of James Kenan — dropped them to 0–5 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
With school spirit on full display in honor of Homecoming, the Raiders were ready to give the home fans plenty to cheer about. They put on quite the show and completely overwhelmed the visiting Gators, in the 51-8 thumping.
Midway won the coin toss in the pregame and elected to receive the opening kick, lining up on their own 36-yard line. On the first play of the series, the Raiders fumbled the ball on their 26-yard line and the Gators recovered. They went four and out there, though, and the Midway offense was back on the field.
This time, the Raiders secured the ball better and strung together a quick drive that was carried primarily by their running game. With 7:44 on the clock, quarterback Tanner Williams scampered 21 yards for the first score of the game. Wesley Tew added the extra two points, and Midway was up 8-0 as a sprinke of rain began to fall.
After the Raiders attempted an onside kick, the Gators recovered and set up on the Midway 39-yard line. This drive for Spring Creek went backwards, marred by a personal foul penalty, and the Gators were forced to punt from midfield. Following the punt, Midway was right back on offense on their own 15-yard line.
Two plays into the drive, Williams connected with Weston Rawls for a 73-yard touchdown pass to push the Midway margin higher. Tew again converted the 2-point conversion and at the 2:42 mark, the Raiders led 16-0.
Spring Creek was desperately needing an answer to try to and keep things close. Back on offense, they were lined up on their own 38-yard line and looking for a response. Instead, the drive once again went in reverse and the Gators were forced to punt the ball back to Midway. The punt, however, was blocked by Jeffrey Williams and was recovered by Brayden Stowers in the end zone for another Raiders touchdown. The 2-point try came up short this time, but Midway led 22-0 just before the end of the quarter.
After that, things continued to spiral out of control for the Gators as they fumbled the kickoff at their own 25-yard line, which was recovered by the Raiders.
One play later, Williams found Jacob Holland on a 25-yard touchdown hookup to further drive the nail in Spring Creek’s coffin. The 2-point try was converted by Jayden Stox and the Raiders led 30-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Now in the second, the Gators were lined up on their own 45-yard line, looking to see if they could make anything happen. No dice, though, as the theme of the game for the Spring Creek offense continued to be loss of yards.
After another punt, it took the Raiders just one play to score, this time on a 46-yard touchdown run by Tew. Midway tacked on the extra two points, and with 10:19 on the clock in the second, the Raiders were leading 38-0, knocking on the door of the mercy-rule running clock threshold.
Another unsuccessful drive greeted Spring Creek’s offense but they were finally able to get off a clean punt off, pinning Midway deep. It didn’t matter, though, as the Raiders again went on the attack. They chewed up big yards at a time and quickly crossed midfield into Gators territory. A few plays later, Tyler Lupo punched in a short run up the middle for the score, officially putting the game into a running clock.
At the half, Midway led 45-0.
When play resumed in the second half, the teams agreed to play 8-minute, running clock quarters as the game was well in hand and heavy rain had begun to fall.
With the majority of the Raider starters on the sideline, the Gators took the opening possession on their own 22-yard line and began to move the ball with some tenacity. This drive consumed all of the third quarter and when the fourth quarter resumed, Spring Creek was lined up at the Midway 17-yard line.
They turned the ball over at the 10-yard line, though, and the Raiders lined up with an opportunity to chew into the clock. With a lot of starters also on the bench for their offense, the drive ultimately ended in a turnover at the Midway 18-yard line. A personal foul penalty moved the Gators back out to the 33-yard line, where they lined up to see if they could score some points. Indeed, it took the Gators one play, as Malachi Moore turned around the right side for the 33-yard touchdown. He also converted the 2-point try, making it 45-8 with 1:50 on the running clock.
The Raiders punched in one final score as the clock hit zeroes and Stox ran the ball in a play where Spring Creek looked to have just completely given up. With that, the score hit 51-8 and the Raiders went on to celebrate the Homecoming victory.
With the win, Midway improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, continuing a solid start to the season.
The road gets tougher next week, though, as the Raiders hit the road for a key matchup against perennial contender James Kenan. Game time in Kenansville is set for 7 p.m.