Vikings spoil Raider homecoming

In the first meeting between the Raiders and the Mabton Vikings, the Vikings came out the victors. Mabton defeated LR 32-0.

“Mabton was clearly the more physical team tonight,” Head Coach Steve Files said. “We are capable of playing better, and we’ll have to if we want to be competitive in our division.”

In the first quarter both teams’ defenses held, firm with Jacob Palmer recording two sacks for the Raiders. The Mabton defensive line was able to disrupt the Raider offense with their penetration of the Raider offensive line. The score was tied at zero to start the second quarter.

During the second quarter the Viking offense started to pass the ball more and discovered a weakness in the Raider secondary. LR did not cover the zones assigned to the individuals when the quarterback began to scramble, with Raider defenders leaving Viking receivers uncovered for long pass receptions. The Viking quarterback used this to score the first touchdown of the game.

LR could not respond and then fumbled to give the Vikings short field. The defense held the Vikings out. With this swing of momentum, the Raiders drove down field and looked to be on the brink of scoring when Nathaniel Hall was stunned by a hit on a run. Austin Rosenbaum stepped in, and on a bootleg right threw an interception that was returned to the Raider three yard line. Mabton quickly scored, and after an official miscue on the ensuing kickoff the Raiders went into halftime down 14-0.

In the second half the Vikings continued to use the scramble against the Raider defense that switched to man coverage with no safeties to cover the deep pass.

Mabton scored another touchdown but the extra point was blocked by the Raiders.

Jesse Louie ran hard and attempted to rejuvenate the Raiders including a 57-yard-run to place the Raiders within scoring distance. The drive then floundered and the ball was turned over on downs.

Mabton’s ground game came alive, and the Vikings drove down for another score. The kick was blocked. LR’s offense could not get anything going and was forced to punt. The Vikings returned the punt 70 yards for a touchdown. Mabton attempted a two-point conversion that was called back on a flag. The kick was blocked for a third time.

On the ensuing kickoff, Josiah Desautel was injured and had to be taken off the field in an ambulance. Both squads played out the game to a 32-0 conclusion in Mabton’s favor.

LR is now 1-4 for its overall win-loss record, and 0-2 in Central Washington 2B South play.

On Friday, LR will travel to White Swan for a 7 p.m. matchup with the South co-leader Cougars. White Swan is 4-2 overall and 2-0 in CWL 2B South action, including a 26-13 win last week over Warden. Kittitas is tied with White Swan for first place in the South with a 2-0 league record, including a 40-13 beating of Soap Lake.