Mountain Lions manhandle Raiders

LR was handed its fourth loss in a row last Friday as the Liberty Bell Mountain Lions came to Coulee Dam to lay down a 45-0 walloping on the Raiders.

The Raiders are now in last place in the Central Washington 2B standings at 3-5 overall, 0-4 in League play. They are now eliminated from postseason play.

LR struggled early on offense, but so did the Mountain Lions. That is until they spread the Raider defense and used a balanced passing, rushing attack that led to their first score with 3:47 left in the first quarter.

LR responded with a decent drive that stalled. Rather than punt, the Raiders went for it on fourth down when Liberty Bell sacked Austin Rosenbaum, setting up the Mountain Lions for their second touchdown of the game.

On the very next LR possession, a fumble at the 25-yard line positioned the Mountain Lions for a quick score. Liberty Bell scored again to make it a 21-0 game.

LR could do nothing with the ball on the next possession and punted the ball away. Jesse Louie booted the ball away for a 41-yard punt, placing the Mountain Lions on their side of the field.

Quickly the Mountain Lions chipped away at the Raider defense, exploiting any flaw. But Liberty Bell looked like it would be stopped as the Raider defense had a surge of momentum, peaking with a Jacob Palmer pass block. Then the coverage broke down and the Mountain Lions scored again to bring the score to 28-0 Liberty Bell.

LR attempted a trick play to try and score in the remaining seconds of the first half. The pass was intercepted and the Mountain Lions quickly drove down field and looked ready to score their fifth touchdown of the half when a Nathaniel Hall sack ended the first half with the score still 28-0 Liberty Bell.

“We struggled getting their guys blocked,” Raider Head Coach Steve Files said. “They were the aggressors up front.”

At halftime, Files said, “We stressed the importance of playing more aggressively, taking good pursuit angles and moving the chains better to keep our defense off the field.”

Liberty Bell came out of halftime and struck again for the endzone, but this time the Raiders did not allow them to score a touchdown. The Mountain Lions kicked a field goal to extend the lead to 31-0. LR could not gain any yards on offense in the third quarter as the run game was stopped cold by the aggressive blitzing and solid line play of the Mountain Lions.

LR again went for it on fourth down and gave the ball to the Mountain Lions on the 28-yard line. Liberty Bell made it into the endzone for the fifth time with 2:25 left in the third quarter. The Raiders again had no answer to the Mountain Lion defense and Jesse Louie punted again for over forty yards to end the quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Mountain Lions quickly scored with 10:10 left in the game.

Kyle Holt led the Raiders in rushing with 42 yards on 14 carries. Fullback Austin Frank ran for 39 yards on 11 carries. In the passing game, the Raiders were 1 of 3 for 7 yards and an interception. Josh Harris was the top tackler for LR with 7 for the game.

The Raiders travel south this Friday to league-leading White Swan for a 7 p.m. game. The Cougars are 7-1 overall and 4-0 in Central Washington 2B play. Last week the Cougars defeated Oroville 22-20.