The Racine Raiders moved to 11-0 on the season with a 30-22 win over the St. Paul Pioneers at Sea Foam Stadium on the Concordia University-St. Paul campus on Saturday night. Defensive back and returner Corey Dalton was the difference in the game as he returned a blocked punt and an interception for touchdowns in the game. The Raiders scored 27 points off of St. Paul turnovers in the game which ended St. Paul’s season.
Both teams stalled on their first offensive drives of the game after just three plays. St. Paul moved the ball well on their second drive before lining up for a 36-yard field goal by Oswaldo Gallegos. Gary Young broke through the line and blocked the kick which Dalton picked up and took 55 yards to the house for the first score in the game. The Alex Gonzalez point-after attempt was good and Racine led 7-0 with 9:16 to play in the opening quarter.
St. Paul had a fumble on their second drive that they recovered for a 14-yard loss. On third-and-24, Ja’Vonte Johnson was chased out of the pocket to his right. He fired a bullet down the Raiders sideline that was intercepted by Dalton and returned for a touchdown to give Racine a quick 13-0 lead with 8:05 to play in the first quarter.
The Pioneers defense would hold Racine to a three-and-out on the ensuing drive and got the ball back at their own 44-yard line. They’d go on a 12-play scoring drive. On fourth-and-goal at the Racine two-yard line, Johnson found Herschell Brazell on a screen pass and Brazell walked into the end zone with 5:14 to play in the half. The two-point conversion pass was broken up by Dalton but St. Paul led 14-13.
St. Paul would fire back in the second quarter. Johnson connected with a receiver for a 66 yard touchdown pass with 13:20 to play in the first half. After seeing the earlier field goal attempt get blocked, St. Paul went for the two-point conversion and Johnson lofted a pass up to Czandler Starin to pull St. Paul to within five at 13-8.
Racine would take the lead back on the ensuing drive on a 26-yard field goal by Gonzalez, giving them a 16-14 lead with 2:20 to play in the first half. The Raiders got the ball right back on an interception of a tipped ball by Jordan Danowski. With 30 seconds to play in the half, Andre Locke found Terrence Fitch in the back of the end zone for a four-yard touchdown. The Gonzalez kick was good and Racine headed into halftime with a 23-14 lead.
Racine was set to receive the second half kickoff but Gallegos attempted an onside kick that bounced off a Raiders player and was recovered by St. Paul. The bonus St. Paul drive ended three plays later with Dalton’s second interception of the game. Racine would quickly turn it into six when Jashon Foster got behind the deep safety and hauled in a pass from Locke and went 84 yards, the longest play of the season for Racine. The Gonzalez extra-point gave Racine a 30-14 lead with 12:42 to play in the third quarter.
Racine would hold that lead until late in the fourth quarter. Johnson would throw his third touchdown pass, a three-yard pass, with just over a minute to play in the game. He’d add a two-point conversion connection to Starin pull St. Paul to within eight points, 30-22.
St. Paul had two timeouts remaining and Racine got the ball with just over a minute to play. Racine did three kneel down plays starting at their own 27-yard line, running the clock down to six seconds. On fourth down, Sawyer Schick took the snap, was immediately under heavy pressure, and heaved the ball out-of-bounds to try and run out the clock.
The officials conferred and placed one second on the clock, giving St. Paul an opportunity to tie the game from the Racine 24-yard line. Johnson’s pass to Starin was broken up by Jerome Scott and the Raiders held on to win, 30-22.
St. Paul ran 16 more plays than Racine in the game and had more total yardage (289-269) and first downs (14-12). Locke was 13-of-23 for 232 yards and two touchdowns in the game. He also led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 27 yards and was the leading rusher in the game. Foster led all receivers with 84 yards. Chris Hicks had four catches for 64 yards.
Defensively, Young had 11 tackles including a 1/2 tackle for loss and the blocked kick while Danowski recorded nine tackles to go with his interception.
