BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
FRISCO— In October, the Denton Ryan Raiders and Richland Royals met in district play with the Raiders coming out on top decisively 44-19 at home. With the way the district ended up, the two were on a collision course for a rematch in the regional semifinal. That came to fruition on Saturday afternoon when they met at The Star in Frisco.
This time around the Royals put up a better fight, but Ryan was just too much in the end. The Raiders ook the opening drive into the end zone and never looked back or relinquished their lead.
“They deferred and kicked it to us,” head coach Dave Henigan said after the game. “Obviously they felt they could get a stop and gain some field position, so to go down and score was big. Then of course we got a couple of turnovers early which gave us a nice cushion coming out for the second half.”
A good kickoff and a penalty quickly put Ryan in a position to score. Quin Henigan then tossed one up to Braeden Mussett who came down with it in the end zone from 24 yards out to take a quick 7-0 lead. They got the ball back quickly on a Byran Simmons interception. However they were only able to get a field goal out of it.
Henigan finished the game completing 15 of 20 for 155 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Richland made up for its mistake on the ensuing drive when Jayshon Gibson avoided the defense to take it in untouched from 24 yards to make it 10-7. They then got a defensive stop, but could not handle the punt return and gave the Raiders an easy shot from the ten yard line. Henigan then rolled out and found Jose Melendez in the flat for the score. Tre’Vaughn Reynolds added another score with just seconds remaining in the first quarter to make the score 24-7.
Ryan started the second quarter very well with a Jaxson Dozier interception, but they were not able to capitalize, and the Royals pulled closer again on a two-yard touchdown by quarterback Drew Kates.
Kates was the spark for Richland completing 23 of 43 for 290 yards and a pair of touchdowns, also adding 61 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown on the ground.
However the Raiders were able to respond. They drove down to the one yard line before Brady Cardwell came in and scored on the quarterback sneak to make the score 31-14 going into the locker room.
Richland got the ball to start the second half but ultimately were forced to punt. Kates tried to get the ball off but Ashton Choice blocked it, caught it in the air and ran it back 41 yards to paydirt, keeping momentum solely in Ryan’s hands.
Both teams had to trade punts before the Royals could get a response on a 39-yard pass from Kates to Xavier Johnson to make the score 38-21 midway through the third quarter. The Raiders were able to manage a field goal on the following drive to make it 41-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
Reynolds scored another touchdown early in the fourth quarter to extend the Ryan lead. To respond, Kates found Evan Smith on a 13-yard slant to try to spark a comeback. The defense got a stop and Gibson was able to score again to make the score 41-35, but Richland could not get the onside kick and the Raiders ran out the clock.
Richland’s season comes to an end with a 10-3 record, with two of those losses coming to Ryan. The Raiders, now 12-1, will move on to yet another rematch to try and avenge their only loss of the season to Aledo at a time and place to be determined.
