Raiders fall to Cobras at home

The Rice Raiders dropped to 0-8 overall record and a 0-4 district record after being defeated by the Industrial Cobras 33-18 on Friday night.

The Raiders are still searching for their first win of the season but have to find a way to not commit self-inflected wounds.

This is one of the Raiders’ biggest problems this season, and specifically this game. The Raiders were down by only five points at halftime as they carried a 12-17 score into halftime.

They had a really strong first half and did a great job of swinging the momentum in their favor coming into the third quarter. But again, the self-inflected wounds started to play a major factor.

Missed assignments, blown coverages and penalties all led to the Raiders scoring a grand total of six points in the second half. The penalties played a big factor as the Raiders seemingly had a flag thrown on them on every crucial third down stop on defense.

Things were starting to get a little chippy in the game, and the Raiders were obviously frustrated from the game and the season, so they were not going back down from the rough stuff. The Raiders coaches did a good job of settling the team down but with the offense struggling in the second half it was more of a sprint to the finish to wipe the slate clean and move onto next week.

The offensive struggles were because the offensive line did not do a great job of protecting Kor’Dae Johnson, and that led to some long down and distance situations. To be fair to the offensive line though not only was it a bad night in pass protection but the run game was having a hard time finding its rhythm so whenever the Raiders dropped back to pass it was easy for the Cobras to dial up some pressure and overwhelm the Raiders line.

Another thing the Raiders have to do is get back to having fun. Yes, quite simply these kids need to find a way to make football fun again.

To see kids coming back to the sideline heads hanging and throwing their hands in frustration is no good for anyone. Football is one of the greatest sports ever invented and it should be fun and the Raiders deserve to have some fun this season.

If they are going to secure their first win of the year, these guys have to clean up the penalties, stay away from the rough stuff, find a way to keep Johnson upright, and have some fun playing football again. If they can do that, the fact still remains that this team has the talent to pick up a win, but it’s on the guys in the locker room to make it happen.

The Raiders now look ahead to their next game on the road against Tidehaven at 7:30 p.m.

Citizen | Evan Hale