By DUANE SHERRILL | Special to The Times
LYNCHBURG — Penalties hamstrung Moore County in their home opener last Friday night with referees calling back two Raider touchdowns as they fell 17-10 to the Cascade Champions in what was a game of long drives.
However, most concerning was a late injury to senior quarterback Gavin Wise who went down with an apparent lower leg injury as his squad was mounting what could have been a game-tying or winning drive with five minutes to go in the contest.
This week the student athlete got the news no senior wants to hear: he’ll miss the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL. This moves fellow senior Isaac Petty into the QB1 spot this week against Goodpasture.
{Editor’s Note: This article is brought to thanks to an editorial partnership between The Lynchburg Times and The Moore County News. To read more of their articles, click here.}
Penalties killed agaisnt Cascade
Penalties came early and often against Moore County as what appeared to be a first quarter touchdown on a by Tristyn Gray was called back following a long opening drive by the Raiders. Moore County was unable to capitalize on their excellent field position and they turned the ball over on downs at the Champion 23. Cascade was the able to reach pay dirt at the end of a long drive of their own, scoring on a 30-yard pass play to take a 7-0 lead. It appeared Moore County had matched the Cascade TD when Isaac Petty brought back the kickoff but his score was called back by a penalty, marking the second touchdown that was taken off the board against the Raiders.
“What changed for us were little things and penalties,” Coach Kris White said of the loss to Cascade after the Raiders’ blowout win over Community 42-7 the week before. “We had two touchdowns called back; you know, we had a dropped touchdown pass. Just little things.”
That lead stood until the second quarter as Moore and Cascade traded long drives, each of which ended without scores. However, Cascade was able to get three out of its last drive of the second quarter, making it 10-0. Moore County got the ball back with a short time left in the second and looked to be doomed to going into the locker room down by 10. But, on the last play of the quarter, Wise hit Luke Stephens on a Hail Mary, with Stephens dancing into the end zone with no time left on a the first half clock. The score made it 10-7 at half.
The second was a carbon copy of the first as both teams maintained long, time-consuming drives. Cascade was able to culminate on of its third quarter drives with a touchdown, making 17-10 but Moore answered with a field goal to make it 17-10 going into the fourth.
It appeared Cascade might put the game out of reach as they mounted a fourth quarter drive deep into Moore territory but the Raiders rejected the Champions on a fourth-and-one situation in the red zone at the 18.
Getting the ball at their own 18 with nine minutes to go, Moore did what both teams had done all night, mount a long drive as they found themselves at the Cascade 40 with five minutes to go. However, that is when Wise went out with an injury. Isaac Petty came in to relive the injured signal caller but was unable to move the ball any further, forcing a punt.
Cascade was able to play keep away the rest of the game, mounting a long drive to kill the rest of the clock.
Unofficial stats had Petty with 91 yards rushing while Wise had 133 yards passing. The Raiders next game is against Goodpasture Christian next Friday in Lynchburg. The loss sets the Raider record at 1-1 after their crushing of Community last week.
The coach gave a lot of credit to Cascade in their win, especially to Champion quarterback Sam Bradley. “I mean, really, you can tell with me that he is poised in the pocket,” he said of the opposing quarterback. “He didn’t really get flustered, we’d have pressure, and he’d stay in there. Again, we weren’t disciplined on defense; we gave up some big plays that shouldn’t have been given up.”
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The AA Goodpasture Cougars will travel to Lynchburg on Friday hot off a 30-0 shellacking of Maplewood last Friday night. The lost to highly ranked BGA 49-7 in game one of their season and beast Glencliff on August 22. This will be the first meeting for the two teams.
Coach White said the team worked this week on its mistakes before the Goodpasture game.
“For us the key is going to be limiting our mental mistakes,” he said. “Whether it is getting lined up on defense the correct way, being in the right coverage, and just being disciplined. Up front, getting better on the offensive line, but I couldn’t be any prouder of my kids because they don’t quit.”
Kickoff of tonight’s game happens at 7 p.m. at Doug Price Field.
Editor Tabitha Evans Moore contributed to this article. •
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