Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
The Jefferson Davis Academy Raiders hosted the Cross Schools Stingrays from Bluffton this past Wednesday, September 25 in a midweek game due to impending Hurricane Helene weather. The two teams met earlier in the season on August 23 with JDA coming home with an impressive 54-0 victory over the Stingrays. The most recent game was no closer with the Raiders easily sailing to a 70-12 win.
After beating a team easily earlier in the season, it is common for a team to lose focus or overlook that same opponent the second time around. No such luck for the Stingrays. The JDA Raiders came ready to play.
The offense for the Raiders was able to score almost at will, despite taking many starters out of the game. Two of the Raiders best running backs, Nasir Void and James Grubbs, were each only given one rushing attempt on the whole night and other players were given a chance to play more than usual. Those opportunities can pay dividends late in the season.
Defensively, the Raiders did not get a second shutout against the Stingrays, but they also allowed several second and third string players to gain some valuable playing time. The final margin of victory was even greater than the first contest with JDA claiming a 58-point margin this second time.
Raiders head coach Anthony Reitenour was asked about his team’s big win and said, “Wednesday was a good first region win for us. We came in and shifted some starters around some to try to level out the number of carries and time on the field. We wanted to give the other players more opportunity to play since the last time we played them in week one. Both Nas Void and James Grubbs had one carry each on the night. I tried not to put them on the field together much to be able to get them individually more time, but we were still able to generate a lot of offense.”
Coach Reitenour said they “got a little complacent at times Wednesday night with the big lead, which is something we have to fix to get prepared for Cathedral who is undefeated on the year so far. They are a very fast, athletic team and we are going to have to bring a lot of discipline and aggressiveness to the field Friday night to manage the game.”
Just how good is this Cathedral Academy team? If the 6-0 record is not impressive enough, they have outscored the opposition by 262 points in the six games. That is an average margin of victory of more than 43 points per game. The Stingrays have scored at least 50 points in five of their six contests.
So, what is the good news? JDA can also put up big numbers. The Raiders have gone over 50 points in four of their games and have outscored their opposition by more than 300 points in their six wins.
It looks like the makings for one extremely explosive offensive football game. Come out and support your JDA Raiders as they look to win their seventh straight game and continue working towards another State Championship run. JDA will be home for the 7:30 kickoff. See you there, Raider fans!
