Raiders lose in fourth to Trojans

Mistakes on both sides of the ball and penalties helped Manson nab a win over the Raiders last Friday night at Manson High School.

Lake Roosevelt fumbled on their opening offensive drive, allowing the Trojans to strike quickly for a touchdown to take the lead 7-0.

Austin Rosenbaum, back from the injury list, ran in a QB keeper for LR’s first score of the night to tie it up, 7 all.

Manson answered by punching in another touchdown, this time without the extra point.

With the score at 13-7 for Manson, the Raiders pushed the ball down field. It looked like Rosenbaum would score on a QB keep, but the official inadvertently blew the play dead when the forward progress of fullback Jesse Louie was stopped. The official did not see Rosenbaum pull the ball out and run for the first down. The officials ruled that the Raiders lost the down for the whistle which caused an uproar from the Raider rooters.

LR quickly made up for the mistake, with Rosenbaum connecting with Josh Harris for a passing touchdown. With the extra point, the score was LR 14 - Manson 13.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders recovered the onside kick, then drove down the field helped by a personal foul call on the Trojans. LR stalled in the red zone and sent out Octavio Alejandre to attempt a 35-yard field goal. Alejandre cleared the uprights to extend the Raiders’ lead to 4.

Manson struck back quickly, scoring the go-ahead touchdown before halftime, but did not make the two-point conversion. The score at halftime was Manson 19 - LR 17.

Penalties continued to be an issue in the second half.

LR went ahead of the Trojans when Josiah Desautel broke loose for a 55-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to make the score LR 24 - Manson 19.

Then LR’s defense and offense ran into roadblocks. They had trouble covering the pass and stopping big runs. And on offense their inside runs were shut down as the Trojans began sending eight or nine defenders on every play to defeat the Raider running attack.

Manson had issues of their own, but then strung together a drive, scoring a touchdown but missing the extra point with 3:17 left in the game.

The Raiders drove down field, then stalled near mid field where the Raiders went for it on fourth down. Rosenbaum went down and the ball turned over on downs to the Trojans.

LR looked to get the ball back with time to set up Alejandre for a game-winning field goal when the Raiders were called for another penalty that gave the Trojans a first down and the win at 25-24.

Austin Rosenbaum was two-for-three passing for 59 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, the Raiders picked up 266 yards with Josiah Desautel running for 169 of those. Kyle Holt had several good runs and totaled 61 yards rushing. Holt had another solid game, returning the ball on special teams. Jacob Palmer was the tackling leader with 10 on the night with two for loss.

“We’ll need to take better care of the ball and be more stout on defense,” Head Coach Steve Files said about the upcoming game against Oroville Friday night. “Also limit negative plays on offense and hit on some big plays in the passing game when they present themselves.”

Files said he expects the team to perform better this week against the Hornets.

“We are still a young team that’s learning how to win,” he said. “It’ll take a total team effort to beat Oroville.”

Friday’s game is homecoming for LR. The game kicks off at Greene Field at 7 p.m. Halftime will be longer for the homecoming festivities.

The Hornets come into the game with a win-loss record of 4-1 overall, with league wins over Manson (59-6) and Liberty Bell (30-27). Oroville’s only loss came at the hands of Kittitas, 20-13.

Central Washington 2B Standings

League Overall

White Swan 2-0 5-1

Oroville 2-1 5-1

Liberty Bell 2-1 2-1

Kittitas 2-1 2-3

Manson 1-2 1-4

Lake Roosevelt 0-2 3-3

Bridgeport 0-2 0-6