Raiders fall to ranked McCook

Sidney HIgh School gridiron alumni Larry Jones, Gary Seevers, Charles Bagby and Jim Ziegler may have felt a little deja vu as they walked onto Weymouth Field at halftime Friday night.

As the Sidney Telegraph put it Oct. 27. 1953, "The Maroons were able to hold the visitors away from the endzone except for two disastrous occassions ... Maroon attempts to hit the McCook line were repeatedly thwarted."

As history has occassion to eerily repeat itselt, the Red Raiders were able to hold the visitors away from the endzone except for two disastrous occassions Friday night in a 17-6 loss to the McCook Bison in a non-district matchup. Raiders attempts to hit the McCook line were again repeatedly thwarted.

As the veterans of the '53 team may have recalled, their own battle with McCook 60 years prior was not too dissimilar to the contest which was unfolding before them. Sidney's rushing attack was held to a season low 158 yards on 45 carries.

For much of the first half the game was played in a steady rain blown southward by a stiff wind.

"With the weather it could have been a mess with turnovers," said Raiders Head Coach Todd Ekart. "But we played well and they played well. We didn't have the errors like we did last week. We can learn from this but there was some good stuff going on too."

With his 65 yards, Logan Lewis was held to under 100 yards for the first time this season. Chance Anglin too was also repeatedly stymied, as he picked up but 60 hard-earned yards. From under center Lane Harvey was effective in limited attempts, slugging it out for 26 yards on six carries.

As usual, most of Lewis' yards came the hard way. Straight ahead into the meat of the opposing line. Anglin, meanwhile spent his evening trying to beat a path to the outside. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

The Raiders defense was also stingy. The task facing them was difficult. At 6-4 210 lbs., junior quarterback Colton Sis was a third rushing weapon in the Bison backfield. He was joined by Trevor Matson at 6-2, 180. But the real bruiser was Kolton Stone (6-0, 210).

"He got low and he's big and fast," said Raiders lineman Cody Frerichs of Stone. "When you're big and fast you can do wonders in football."

Trailing 3-0 at the half, the Raiders were the first team to find the end zone with just over 7:00 to go in the third quarter. After the defense forced the Bison to surrender the ball on its first second-half possession, Sidney took over with a first down on its own 30.

Though Sidney could find no traction on its first two plays of the drive, the offense eventually marched 70 yards in nine plays. On their third offensive play of the series, a Logan Lewis run down the home sideline was punctuated by a Bison late hit out of bounds.

Though Lewis was no worse for the wear, a wounded Raider on the sidelines had one of his crutches bent on the play. McCook took the worst of it, however, being assessed a 15-yard personal-foul penalty.

Later in the drive, as the offensive line helped pry open some running room, Lewis went for a 20-yard jaunt and Anglin followed for 18 more. Lewis traveled the final seven for the 6-3 lead.

Unfortunately for the home faithful, the ninth ranked Bison responded immediately. Jake Heeren booted the Raiders kickoff into the endzone giving McCook the ball at their own 20. It took the Bison 13 plays and 6:57 to negotiate the 80 yards to take back the lead at 10-6.

Stone, Matson and Sis teamed up to eat up the yards on the ground as McCook threw not a single pass. Though each had been stopped by the Sidney defense for no gain on the drive, the trio made up for it in chunks.

"We were trying to hold our own," Frerichs said. "Their defense got us pretty good. They were adjusting to our plays really well."

Stone was good for 41 yards during the near-seven minutes including a 15-yard rush. Of the 33 yards Sis piled up during the series, the final 19 took him to pay dirt.

"It was a really physical game," said Sidney lineman Tucker Wintholz. "We were trying to stop the veer and the quarterback option."

In their attempt to answer, the Raiders couldn't manage a first down after a motion penalty put them in a hole. But McCook followed the Sidney stalled drive with a 54-yard touchdown drive to give the visitors a two-score advantage with just 6:37 to play. Two offsides penalties hurt the Raiders before Matson ran 30-yards to the end zone. Bryce Lyons' extra point accounted for the final point of the game.

"We put ourselves in bad positions with some penalties," Ekart said. "With the type of offense and defense we run and against a quality opponent, you just can't do that."

On their following possession the Raiders mounted a promising drive despite having little success on the ground. Harvey connected with Lewis, Anglin and Rosenbaum on an 11-play procession that started on their own 17 and stalled at the Bison 49.

"(McCook) did a great job of stopping the outside run and we couldn't get anything going on the inside either," said Ekart.

The defensive struggle which played itself out it the first two quarters was only broken just before the half. McCook got the ball after the Raiders fell short on fourth-and- inches at the Bison 30.

McCook proceeded to go 67 yards before they faced a fourth-and-goal from the three. With 16 second left the visitors elected to send Lyons out to kick a 20-yard field goal. The big play turned out to be a pass-interference penalty against the Raiders on second-and-15.

The Raiders get to taste a little more home cooking next Friday when they host Lexington at 6 p.m.