Rain slows Raiders at Riverdale
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After playing through adverse weather conditions, the Coffee County Red Raiders lost a tough region game to Riverdale 21-0 on Friday night.
Coffee County would receive the ball first, but their first drive would end on a three-and-out, forcing them to punt. The punt would be mishandled, but Will Rogers was still able to get off a short punt that landed at the Coffee County 22-yard line.
The Warriors did not take long to respond, as Riverdale running back Kaden Bailey ran 22 yards on the first Warrior play from scrimmage to give Riverdale an early 8-0 advantage with 9:16 left in the first quarter.
The Red Raiders couldn’t get anything going on their next drive, which ended in another three-and-out. This time, Rogers was able to get off a better punt, and Riverdale took over on the Raider 48.
Coffee County appeared to stop the Warriors with a three-and-out of their own, but the punt return was miffed by the Red Raiders, giving Riverdale the ball right on the Red Raiders’ goal line.
The Raider defense would come alive, as a penalty by the Warriors and a second down sack by Hank Crabtree backed Riverdale back to the Coffee County 25, where the Warriors would try a 42-yard field goal on fourth down. The kick would be no good and Coffee County took over on their own 20 with the touchback rule.
Coffee County’s offense would reach their own 49 with a little help from a penalty on Riverdale, but as the game moved on to the second quarter, the Red Raiders would again be forced to punt.
Coffee County’s defense would make some noise on the next Riverdale possession, stopping a fourth down and short on the 50-yard line.
The Red Raiders would gain some momentum on their next drive, reaching the Warrior 32, but a fumble on a rushing attempt by Jayden Carter gave the ball back to Riverdale.
The Warriors would reach the Coffee County 23-yard line with a little help from a fourth and inches conversion as well as a pass interference penalty on the Red Raiders, but Riverdale became too overzealous, turning the ball over on another fourth down conversion attempt.
With 16 seconds left in the second quarter, the Red Raiders ran the clock out and headed to the locker room down 8-0.
Riverdale received the ball to begin the second half on their own 40, but were forced to punt after reaching the Coffee County 40.
The Red Raiders would gain a few yards on their next drive, but another fumble by Carter at the Coffee County 36 ended the possession.
Riverdale would reach the Coffee County eight-yard line, but the Warriors were forced to try a field goal from 25 yards out. The ball sailed through the wind, rain and uprights to extend the Warrior lead to 11-0 with 3:35 to go in the third.
On their next drive, Coffee County would try a couple of passing plays, but each of them would fall incomplete and the Red Raiders would again punt, this time with Jordan Thompson kicking.
The ball would take a friendly roll down to the Riverdale 31, and the Warriors went back to work.
Riverdale would also try going to the air, and Zaiden Jones would make a touchdown grab to put the Warriors up 18-0 with just a little over a minute into the fourth quarter.
Coffee County would go three-and-out on their next drive, losing a large chunk of yards and being forced to punt from their own eight.
The Warriors would tack on another three points on a 42-yard field goal by Khalil Arman with 6:29 left in the fourth quarter, and the 21-0 lead would remain unchanged until the clock ran out.
With the loss, Coffee County fell to 3-3 with a 1-1 record in region play.
The Red Raiders will travel back to Murfreesboro next week for another region contest at Rockvale on Thursday, Oct. 3 with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. The Rockvale Rockets (1-5) will be coming off of a 60-0 loss at Oakland.
