Cin City moved down the field at will on the opening drive of the game. The Raiders defense would stiffen near the goal line holding the Buccaneers to a 20-yard field goal by Cullen Bradley. The nearly 12-play drive took nearly ten minutes off the clock on a warm evening. The Raiders went three-and-out on their first drive causing concern for how a short-handed defense might hold up under the conditions.
Both teams alternated short possessions with the Raiders going three-and-out on their first three drives of the game. Cin City would give the Raiders a gift with 10:37 to play in the first half. On fourth-and-two at their own 24-yard line, the Buccaneers chose to go for it. The Raiders defense stepped up, putting immediate pressure on Buccaneers quarterback Maurice Lovett, Sr. and getting a sack at the Cin City 14 yard line where Racine would get the football on a turnover-on-downs.
Four plays later, the Raiders worked their way down to the Cin City three-yard line. With the Buccaneers lining up ten players near the line of scrimmage, Raiders quarterback Andre Locke, Sr. lofted a pass towards his tall wide receiver Jashon Foster who made a tremendous one-handed catch on a contested play to give Racine a 6-3 lead with 8:04 to play. The Alex Gonzalez extra point was good and the Raiders extended the lead to 7-3.
Cin City would respond right back as Lovett connected with wide receiver Isaiah Loveless on a 68-yard pass on the first play of the drive, setting Cin City up with a first down at the Raiders 12-yard line. Four plays later, Lovett hit Loveless on an eight-yard touchdown pass to take back the lead, 9-7. The Raiders blocked the extra point attempt but were flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty. Cin City decided to go for the two-point conversion try and Lovett again found Loveless to extend the Cin City lead to 11-7 with 5:27 to play in the first half.
Joe Garcia returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards to the Cin City 11-yard line but Racine was flagged for a block in the back at their own 24-yard line, negating the return. The Raiders would give the ball back to Cin City after another three-and-out. Cin City would take the 11-7 lead into halftime.
The Raiders received the opening kickoff of the second half but back-to-back false start penalties resulted in them having to punt to Cin City. Cin City would get to the Raiders 38-yard line on their first drive of the second half but a Lovett punt out of the shotgun formation bounced into the end zone. The Raiders would go on their longest drive of the game, covering 80 yards on 13 plays in about five minutes. Tom Benko would plow into the end zone from a yard out and the Gonzalez extra point was good as Racine took back the lead, 14-11, and they’d never relinquish it.
Cin City became discombobulated. Following a Nick Jones sack that caused Lovett to fumble and was recovered by Gage Zahradnik for Racine, the Buccaneers picked up two separate dead ball unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The penalties resulted in two ejections, including Lovett, the only quarterback on the Cin City roster. After the penalties, the Raiders were at the Cin City seven-yard line. Quarterback Mitch Farr, on in relief of Locker, hit Alex Rewolinski for a touchdown. Gonzalez added the extra point to give Racine a 21-11 lead with no time on the clock in the third quarter.
On Cin City’s next drive, Aarion Ivy forced Jerrel Mitchell to fumble and Niko Lemke picked it up and strolled into the end zone from 31 yards away. Mitchell was in the game to replace Lovett. The Gonzalez extra point was good again and Racine led 28-11 with about ten minutes to play in the game. The defense would put the game away on a backward lateral by Mitchell intended for Dontay Jackson. The ball rolled into the end zone where Jesus Gonzales jumped on it for another Racine defensive score and a 35-11 win.
The win brings Racine’s overall record to 4-0 with all of the game being GDFL-qualifying games.
The Raiders again struggled offensively as they had just 166 total yards of offense, including just 36 rushing yards on 19 attempts. Farr led the way passing going 4-of-6 for 78 yards and a touchdown. Howard Triplett had 29 yards on 10 carries on the ground. Bibby Davis led Racine in receiving with 2 grabs for 44 yards while Foster added 2 catches for 41 yards and the touchdown.
Defensively, Aarion Ivy paced Racine with eight tackles, a half tackle for loss, a fumble caused, and two passes defensed. Lemke had seven tackles, a half tackle for loss, and the touchdown return. Brandon Imel and Justin Benko each had a sack for Racine. Punter Brady Wodack averaged 46 yards per punt to help swing field position several times in the game.
