Trailing 10-7 and facing a fourth and 11 in no man’s land on Cooper’s side of the field, Ryle needed a spark.
They found it when Logan Verax hit Gavin Lyons for a 28-yard gain to the Jaguars six-yard line. Three plays later, they punched it in from a yard out on a Logan Verax quarterback sneak and scored 21 straight points in a 28-10 victory.
“We were on the 35-yard line, so we figured we might as well go for it there. How bout the catch by Gavin Lyons?,” Raiders coach Mike Engler said. “That’s a sophomore making that catch. I love this team, we’re very young. We started six sophomores tonight and we just keep growing.”
Prior to the pass play, the Raiders got momentum on their side thanks to their defense. On the Raiders first possession out of halftime, Cooper’s Jack Lonaker recovered a fumble and returned it all the way to Ryle one-yard line.
Two one-yard negative runs and an incompletion later, Carson Taylor came out for a 20-yard field goal and a 10-7 Jaguars lead. The turnover may have resulted in points, but the Raiders were the ones coming off the field thrilled with the result.
“Even though they scored the field goal we felt like the momentum changed. That was a big stop for us there,” Engler said. “Our defense just made plays when they had to.”
Ryle’s go-ahead drive was set up by a Jaguars fumble, Kai Workman with the recovery. The fourth down conversion was a play they ran earlier in the game, but couldn’t connect.
“I overthrew it earlier in the game. So Coach Gray put a wide receiver there and the safeties were on the hashes and I was like, ‘Oh it’s wide open.’ Took one step, dropped back, led him a little bit and trusted him to make the play,” Verax said. “I knew he was coming down with it.”
Up 14-10 with less than five minutes to play, it was the Ryle defense again making a big play, this time Dillon Smith leaping to grab a screen pass and intercepting it for a return inside the Cooper 10-yard line.
JR Hayes made Cooper pay for their fourth turnover of the night on an eight-yard touchdown run and a Raiders 21-10 lead with 3:26 to play.
Another stop from the Raiders defense then resulted in a Verax to Landon Lorms 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:53 to play and a ninth straight victory for the guys in orange and black over their Union counterparts.
“Takes a lot of will power and guts and sometimes a lot of luck,” Engler said. “These have been great football games. They’ve all been tight and close and we’ve just been lucky to get some plays to go our way.”
Verax finished with 163 yards passing and 83 yards rushing. The first score of the game came on a Verax 42-yard touchdown run with no time left in the first quarter.
Lyons was his top target, catching seven balls for 71 yards, the big one the 28-yarder in the fourth.
“We went into the timeout and they put me at tailback and I was confused. They told me to go down the seam on the linebacker. When those kind of plays happen, I don’t even know what’s happening. I’m just playing football at that point,” Lyons said.
Lyons also added an interception at the end of the first half to stop a Cooper drive in Raider territory.
Jacob Savage was big in the run game for the Raiders in the second half, finishing with 45 yards on 12 carries. Ryle churned out 159 yards on the ground on 46 attempts.
Cooper’s night was marred by missed opportunities, including three trips inside the Ryle 30-yard line on the night and it resulted in just three points. A fumble, interception and the Taylor field goal.
“You can’t be there three times and come away with three points. We shot ourselves in the foot,” Jaguars coach Randy Borchers said. “We knew we were playing a really good football team and have to make some plays. We weren’t very clean tonight, they made plays when they needed to and we weren’t able to make those plays tonight.”
Despite losing the turnover battle 4-1, they still had their chance for a game-winning drive late in the fourth. But Cam O’Hara was unable to get comfortable in the pocket all evening and was never able to establish much of a rhythm, completing 15-of-30 passes for 180 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Johnson in the first half.
“They beat us in the trenches tonight,” Borchers said. “Cam scrambled for his life all night and couldn’t get comfortable and it made for a long night for us.”
Johnson finished with eight receptions for 119 yards. The Jaguars had just 43 rushing yards on 21 attempts. This after they scored 77 points in their first two games.
Cooper’s last win in the rivalry came in 2015, they’ll look to regroup next week when they host Campbell County.
Ryle continues its gauntlet at Highlands next week.
RAIDERS 28, JAGUARS 10
COOPER — 0-7-3-0 — 10
RYLE — 7-0-0-21 — 28
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(R) Verax 42-yard run (:00) Line kick
2nd Quarter
(C) O’Hara 34-yard pass to Johnson (7:50) Taylor kick
3rd Quarter
(C) Taylor 20-yard FG (5:37)
4th Quarter
(R) Verax 1-yard run (8:50) Line kick
(R) Hayes 8-yard run (3:26) Line kick
(R) Verax 25-yard pass to Lorms (1:53) Line kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Cooper 180 (O’Hara 15/30), Ryle 163 (L. Verax 16/24, N. Verax 0/1)
Rushing Yards: Cooper 43 (Maher 12-36, Laurent 6-19, O’Hara 3-(minus) 12), Ryle 159 (Verax 21-83, Savage 12-45, Hayes 13-31)
Receiving: Cooper , Ryle (Lyons 7-71, Lorms 4-55, Reynolds 3-15, Savage 1-12, Hayes 1-10)
Turnovers: Cooper 4, Ryle 1
Penalties: Cooper 8-73, Ryle 4-32
Records: Cooper 2-1, Ryle 2-1