RAIDERS STUNG BY HORNETS

NILES, OH- Saturday night the Raider football team headed to a familiar stadium in Bo Rein in Niles. Unfortunately, they also got the same result as the last time they were there. The Raiders lost to the top-ranked Kirtland Hornets 38-7 in the second round of the OHSAA playoffs.

The Raiders got the opening kickoff but were unable to do anything with it. Kirtland defense was smothering all night, and their offense stung the Raiders. The Hornets took their first 2 possessions in for touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead early in the game. The Raiders were able to muster up a drive and score on a four-yard QB sneak by Michael Patrone. That cut the lead to 14-7 but that’s as close as the Raiders would get.

Kirtland would use their two power backs, Luke Garner and Mason Sullivan. The formation was a familiar one to the Raiders. The Poland bulldogs ran the same offense and the Raiders had trouble with it than as well.

The Raiders finished with a season-low 129 total yards, 97 yards rushing. Micheal Patrone finished 5-14 for 32 yards. Dylan Dominguez was the leading rusher with 44 yards. Chris Brooks had 24 yards on 2 receptions.

For the Hornets, they had 386 total yards 342 coming on the rush. Luke Gardner led the Hornets adding 191 to his 1100 yards for the season. Mason Sullivan stacked up another 157 to his 1400 yards for the year.

The Raiders finish 8-4. The Hornets 12-0 move on to the Regional Championship vs Akron Manchester.

*Story contributed by YSN’s Paul Munson