Raiders benefit from second-half onside kick

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 23, 2007 2:18 AM

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SPIVEY'S CORNER -- A big play and a few mistakes led to Rosewood suffering its third loss of the season on Friday night.

Midway scored on a 99-yard touchdown pass and took advantage of a Rosewood fumble to defeat the Eagles 28-6 in non-conference play.

Rosewood's night started promising as it recovered a Midway fumble at the Raiders' 35-yard line on the game's opening possession. The Eagles' offense however, stalled on downs and the Raiders capitalized.

Despite being backed up to its own 1-yard line, Midway got a huge play to put points on the board. The Raiders' quarterback faked a pitch that Rosewood's cornerback bit on enabling the reciever to run wide open down the field. The play resulted in a 99-yard touchdown pass that gave the Raiders momentum.

Even with the score, Rosewood fought back when Sean Cornman fired a short pass to Holt Rains in the back of the end zone to cut the Midway lead to 14-6.

In the second half, Midway kicked high and short on the kickoff. No Rosewood players stepped up to field the ball and the Raiders recovered the ball around the Eagle 30-yard line.

"We shot ourselves in the foot to start the second half," said Rosewood coach Robert Britt.

The Rosewood defensive unit -- led by Robert Franks, Marcus Daniels, Joseph Pearson and Rains -- forced a fourth-down play for Midway. The Raiders converted and eventually scored to go ahead 20-6.

The Raiders added a safety and another late touchdown to make the final margin.

Offensively, Rains and Stephen McIntyre made big catches while Josh Holmes and Eric Martell had good games running the ball.

The Eagles (2-3 overall) entertain Jones Senior next Friday.