A snow covered field and a game time temperature of minus three would not slow down a potent Eastman offence who would put up some quick scores and never look back. With 174 yards in the air and 128 yards on the ground, the Raiders threatened to put their first playoff game into runtime going up 22-0 in the opening quarter.
The Raiders shocked the Nationals with a short kick to start the game, recovering the ball and then handing the ball to Tyler Neufeld for a 40 yard touchdown run. A 32 yard TD pass to Patrick Maendal with 2 minutes left in the first quarter and a Riley Doerksen 50 yard interception run for a major put a daunting number up on the Transcona scoreboard. The Nationals wouldn’t give up easily, scored on a penalty aided drive to put the score at 22-8 with 3:43 left in the half.
While the Eastman offence had success scoring early, the Raiders defence would consistently shut down the Nationals forcing multiple turnovers on downs beginning with a goal line stand at the start of the third quarter.
A 60 yard pass to Maendal put the Teal and Black up 28-16 at 3:50 of third. Eastman would get the ball back with an interception by James Sonnichson setting up a 20 yard field goal to extend the Raiders lead to 31-16. A fourth quarter pass to Justin Kuharski set up a William Cruise three yard receiving touchdown.
Unlike the previous week, with the win secure, the Raiders would take a knee to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
|