Mistakes proved costly for Raymond-South Bend as the Ravens saw a potential victory slip through their grasp with a 43-34 loss to Rainier on Friday at Raymond High School.
The Ravens (1-1 overall) trailed 7-0 after the first quarter but saw its big-play offense get rolling in the second period.
Running back Chris Banker got RSB on the scoreboard when he broke a 47-yard run for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
Rainier (1-1) responded when quarterback Jacob Meldrum found a wide open Hunter Howell down the seam for a 35-yard touchdown. Mountaineers running back Jayden Alegarbes ran in the two-point conversion to stake Rainier to a 15-7 lead.
RSB drove right back down the field and scored when running back Isaac Schlueter scampered in from 19-yards out, but Alegarbes returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to put RSB in a 23-15 deficit.
Undeterred, RSB scored with just under a minute left in the first half when Schlueter went in untouched for a 56-yard scoring run. A failed two-point conversion made it a close 23-21 game at the half.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Raymond-South Bend running back Isaac Schlueter (15) is congratulated by teammate Adam Mora after scoring a touchdown during a 43-34 loss to Rainier on Friday at Raymond High School.
The Mountaineers would extend the lead once again when Howell ran it in from 23 yards out, putting Rainier up 31-21.
But on the Ravens’ first play of the ensuing drive, quarterback Chris Quintana burst through the middle on a read-option play, sprinting 52 yards for a touchdown.
RSB would take its first lead of the game with just under eight minutes in the fourth quarter. On a 3rd-and-14 play in their own territory, Banker broke loose again, this time for a 63-yard touchdown run to give RSB a 34-31 lead.
But the lead was short-lived as Rainier drove down the field and regained the lead when Alegarbes punched it in from a yard away with 5:16 left to play.
Then disaster struck Raymond-South Bend.
On its first offensive play of the following drive, Quintana ran an option-run play to the near sideline and pitched the ball wide to the running back, but the back was looking downfield and misread the play as the ball dribbled deeper into RSB territory.
Rainier defensive back Keagin Howell scooped up the loose ball and scored a back-breaking touchdown and put RSB down 43-34 with five minutes left to play.
RSB failed to score any points on its next possession, turning the ball over on downs, and Rainier was able to run out the clock on the Ravens.
“From the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter, I would honestly say that we beat ourselves,” RSB head coach Luke Abbott said. “We made too many mistakes in the first half. There was a coverage error, we gave up a special teams kickoff return on a contain that should have never happened, we had a fumble on a drive all the way down the field and we cough it up. Those types of things can’t happen. Second half, same situation. We made some mistakes. On that pitch there, we’ve been running that same play all night. Our running back must have had a little brain fart or something, it was a complete momentum killer.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Raymond-South Bend defender Manny Becerra-Souza celebrates a sack of Rainier quarterback Jacob Meldrum (2) during the Ravens’ 43-34 loss on Friday in Raymond.
What makes the loss sting even more is that RSB had three players rush for over 100 yards, typically a formula that equals a Ravens victory, but not on Friday.
Quintana led the way with 161 yards on 18 carries, with Banker (5-122) and Schlueter (9-118) also eclipsing the century mark.
“We can score,” Abbott said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times. Hopefully, we can fix some of those mistakes. We can either pout and moan about it or come in next week and work harder and get better at the things we made mistakes on. We’ll see how the kids respond.”
RSB faces Hoquiam at 7 p.m. on Friday at Olympic Stadium.
Rainier 7 16 8 12 – 43
RSB 0 21 6 7 – 34
Scoring
First quarter
Rainier – Cano 1 run (PAT good), 6:13
Second quarter
RSB – Banker 47 run (PAT good), 9:18
R – H. Howell 35 pass from Meldrum (Alegarbes run), 6:53
RSB – Schlueter 19 run (Schlueter run), 4:31
R – Alegarbes 85 kickoff return (pass good), 4:21
RSB – Schlueter 56 run (run fail), 0:59
Third quarter
R – H. Howell 22 run (run good), 1:35
RSB – Quintana 52 run (run fail), 1:15
Fourth quarter
RSB – Banker 63 run (PAT good), 7:59
R – Alegarbes 1 run (pass fail), 5:16
R – K. Howell 10 fumble return (run fail), 5:07
Leading rushers: RSB – Quintana 18-161; Banker 5-122; Schlueter 9-118.
