Slugfest Friday ends in Raider win
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Mount Ayr 27, Ogden 24
The Raiders found themselves in a slugfest last Friday night when the Ogden Bulldogs came to town.
The Raiders fumbled four times, losing three, and threw one interception, while intercepting three and recovering two fumbles, narrowly winning the turnover battle.
Ogden was able to out-pace the Raiders 447-yards to Mount Ayr’s 380.
It was a passing attack for both teams, as Frost threw 11-for-20 for 246 yards, while Ogden’s Colby Rohe was 16-for-33 for 407 yards.
The Raiders ran for only 134 yards, while allowing only 40 on the ground.
Both teams punted four times in the hard-fought game.
“We really thought we could run the ball on them. We felt good about our offensive line, the way they’ve been playing,” said coach Victor. “They filled the box up and had eight or nine guys in there when we went to I-formation. We got some things out of the spread and they got us out of our rhythm. That was one of the most physical defenses we’ve played since Avoca.”
Despite the tough battle, the Raiders were able to jump ahead early, 14-0, with a two-play drive that went 36-yards with Jaydon Knight.
Knight would then force a fumble on the kick-return, in which the Raiders recovered and capped off the short 29-yard drive with a Jaixen Frost quarterback sneak.
The Bulldogs were then able to show their offensive abilities, in which Colby Rohe found Cael Pearson for 75-yards through the air for a touchdown.
The second quarter saw no score as the Raiders held a 14-6 lead as the clock ran out in the first half.
The second-half opened with an 89-yard pass from the Bulldogs Rohe to Dylan Perdue that put the Bulldogs within two points of the Raiders, after missing another extra point attempt.
Mount Ayr was able to answer back with a 61-yard pass from Frost to Drew Ehlen, with the PAT from Knight good.
The Bulldogs added two more scores to go up 24-21 with 5:29 left in the game.
The game winning drive came with just over a minute left in regulation, with Mount Ayr lacking timeouts, and 48-yards to go.
Mount Ayr’s Frost dropped back and found Knight who stretched out and made a contested catch at the 10-yard line to put the Raiders in good position but with 53 seconds to go, the Raiders spiked the ball and faced 2nd and goal at the 10.
The Raiders were pushed back and with a 3rd and 19, Frost found Braydon Pierson open in the corner of the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown, that would end up winning the contest, to advance the Raiders into the next round of playoffs.
“I saw Jaydon streaking one-on-one and when you see a big guy like him one-on-one you have to throw to the big guy,” said Frost on his decision to throw to Knight on the first play of the game winning drive.
Knight was happy to have made the catch but wanted to get the ball into the endzone for the team.
“It was a beautiful ball by Jaixen,” said Knight. “I knew I had to fight through the hands and get across his body and get up and make that play for the team.”
Frost capped off the drive with passing touchdown to Pierson.
“I knew I had to keep my cool and composure. I didn’t want to run out of the pocket too early, and go through my progressions,” said Frost. “I saw BP [Braydon Pierson] was streaking, wide open and I knew I had to throw it as hard as I could and he made a beautiful catch in the endzone.”
Knight and Pierson both admitted to the play being more “recess football” than anything planned.
“I honestly didn’t run the right route, I knew I had to go for the corner and I was bumped off my route, which had me wide open,” said Pierson. “It was total recess football.”
The three seniors have played football together since they were little, which has helped them in situations like that.
“Growing up we always played recess football together,” said Frost. “We always wanted Braydon on the other team because he’s the most athletic, but when he’s on your team he’s the best receiver you could ask for.”
Knight shared the sentiment.
“Growing up with these guys you share a special connection,” said Knight. “You will always have those moments where you just know he’s there and you can get him the ball.”
Pierson echoed Knight.
“There’s a special connection between all of us,” said Pierson. “We are family, man. It’s just awesome.”
Coach Ryan Victor had a nice laugh when he discovered the last play was more recess than planned, but credited his guys with being able to get the job done.
“The fortunate thing is that we set it up in the huddle a few plays before and you know as well as I do that the second they got out there it went out the window, but that’s the great thing when you have kids that have played football together forever,” said coach Victor. “They can improvise, they know where each other is going to be and you can get yourself an opportunity. I will probably tell them congratulations on being able to improve because it’s what got us the win. It’s not anything I did or we did, it’s what they did.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 F
OB 6 0 6 12 24
MA 14 0 7 6 27
Scoring
1st Quarter
10:58 – MA – Knight 36-yd rush. PAT no good.
10:10 – MA – Frost 1-yd rush. 2PT try good.
0:58 – OB – Rohe to Pearson 75-yard pass. PAT blocked.
3rd Quarter
10:56 – OB – Rohe to Perdue 89-yd pass. PAT no good.
1:52 – MA – Frost to Ehlen 61-yd pass. PAT Good.
4th Quarter
10:26 – OB – Rohe 6-yd rush. PAT no good.
5:29 – OB – Rohe to Christensen 51-yd pass. PAT no good.
0:28 – MA – Frost to Pierson 19-yd pass. PAT no good.
Team Statistics
1st Downs MA OB
Total 15 12
Rushing 8 1
Passing 5 10
Penalty 2 1
Rushing
Attempts 38 24
Gained 180 79
Lost 46 39
Net 134 40
Passing
Completions 11 16
Attempts 20 33
Percentage 55 48
Intercepted 1 3
Net 246 407
Total Offense 380 447
Punts 4 4
Average 37.3 35
Return Yards
Punt Return 33 0
Kickoff 69 53
Int. Returns 54 20
Fumble Ret. 0 0
Fumbles 4 3
Fumbles lost 3 2
Penalties 8 8
Yards lost 70 68
Individual Statistics
Passing
Comp Att Yds
Frost 11 20 246
Receiving
Rec Yds Avg
Ehlen 5 149 29.8
Pierson 3 30 10
T.Dugan 1 23 23
Knight 2 44 22
Rushing
Att. Gain Avg
Pierson 8 11 1.4
Martin 4 16 4
Frost 15 40 2.7
K.Dugan 3 29 9.7
Knight 8 38 4.8
Tackles
S A Loss
Ehlen 2 0 0
Pierson 3 0 0
Martin 0 1 0
Frost 4 0 0
K.Dugan 3 1 0
Knight 2 1 1.5
Yoder 1 0 1.5
Shiflett 1 0 0
Larson 2 2 1.5
Barnes 0 3 1.5
Knox 0 1 0
Fooken 2 1 0
Ruggles 1 0 0
T.Dugan 2 0 0
Main 1 0 0
Kick-Offs
Kicks Yds
Pierson 5 188
Kick Return
Returns Yds
Pierson 1 11
Knight 2 69
Punts
Kicks Yds
Pierson 4 149
Punt Return
Returns Yds
Pierson 3 33
Fumble
REC Yds
Knight 1 0
Main 1 0
Interceptions
NO Yds
Pierson 1 14
Frost 1 18
Knight 1 22
Blocked Kicks
NO Yds
M.Larson 1 0
