Sep. 11—It’s now not enough to just win — the West Rusk Raiders have to do it with a little style.
But maybe not for the weak at heart.
The Raiders spotted Mineola a 17-0 lead Friday night at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium on the WR campus, only to roar back in the second half for a 24-17 win.
Coach Nick Harrison’s Raiders are now 3-0, and visit San Augustine next Friday night, Sept. 17. West Rusk finishes the non-district schedule with that game, and then begins district play the following week, Sept. 24, at home against Troup.
Mineola had beaten West Rusk last year, before the Raiders went on an eight-game winning streak deep into the Class 3A, Division II postseason. And if the Raiders were going to give them a 17-0 lead, Mineola was certainly not about to turn it down.
Neither team lit the scoreboard much in the first half, and the Raiders not at all. The Yellow Jackets drove inside the West Rusk 20-yard-line, and then Christian Martinez gave MHS the 3-0 lead with a 34-yard field goal with seven minutes left in the half.
The Raiders were their own worst enemy much of the second quarter, allowing a couple of sacks, but playing well enough defensively to keep Mineola from adding to the 3-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets would take that field goal lead into the half.
Things got worse, before they got better. Mineola’s Dawson Pendergrass got free for a 69-yard touchdown run, and Martinez made it 10-0 on the point after, with almost all the third quarter to play — he scored just a minute into the half.
With five minutes left in the third quarter, Mineola still had kept West Rusk off the scoreboard, and then added one more: another score for Pendergrass, this time a 20-yard touchdown run with five minutes left.
Doom and gloom might have set in among the WR fanbase, but it didn’t — the Raiders’ fans cheers only seemed to get louder, and West Rusk’s players and coaches fed off it.
And then came the comeback.
WR quarterback Andon Mata found Will Jackson for a touchdown, finally getting the Raiders onto the scoreboard with three minutes left in the third quarter.
Mineola turned the ball right back over to West Rusk moments later, at Mineola’s 32, and Mata made them pay. He broke free for a 12-yard touchdown run and the second point after by Alexis Magallanes the Raiders within three, 17-14, still late in the third quarter.
And then, a nightmare for the Yellow Jackets: a second fumble, again recovered by West Rusk, and again disaster for the Yellow Jackets, a touchdown pass from Mata to Geremiah Smith that gave the Raiders a 21-17 lead.
Magallanes would hit a field goal to give the Raiders a little insurance, and they closed out the game keeping the Yellow Jackets out of the end zone.