Photos courtesy of Braden Gilley
Plant City received the ball to open the game. On the opening kickoff, Treon Williams ran it in for a touchdown. Then Plant City attempted the 2-point conversion on a quarterback run. With 11:47 left in the first, the score was already 8-0 Raiders.
The Sharks started their first drive at the 25-yard line. The drive started with two runs from the quarterback and a jet sweep to the wide receiver with nothing to show. The Raiders jumped offsides and moved the Sharks up 5 but they were unable to do anything with the free yards and punted it on a 3 and out on their first drive.
The Raiders got the ball back at their own 25-yard line with 9:42 left in the first. After a run for no gain, Chris Denson found Josh Tyson for a solid gain on a curl route. An encroachment on Riverview made it a 3rd and 2 for the Raiders. Running back Tony Marshall took the snap and got the first for the Raiders. Josh Tyson then got back-to-back catches for the Raiders putting them across midfield. Tony Marshall then took the handoff for another Raiders first down. The Raiders got more first downs with TJ Knighten and Haven Pierce. After a Tony Marshall carry, the Raiders were at the 10-yard line. Chris Denson ran for a couple of yards to make it 3rd and goal for the Raiders. The Sharks made it harder for themselves with another offsides penalty. Tylor Morton got a handoff for the Raiders and got stuffed at the line, which made it 4th down, but the Raiders went for it. The 4th down risk was worth it as Chris Denson found TJ Knighten in the end zone on a slant for the touchdown. After a failed 2-point conversion, the Raiders were up 14-0 with 5:53 left in the first.
A nice return by the Sharks put them at their own 40 yard line. OLB Tylor Morton lit up the Sharks running back on the first play of the drive and the Sharks had to call a timeout with 5:31 left to figure out what went wrong. After another bad run, the Sharks fumbled on third down and the Raiders took over at the Sharks 40. The Raiders went for it deep in the end zone on the first play and it was incomplete. Denson pitched it to Tony Marshall for a 20+ yard run. They kept feeding Marshall after that as he got back to back Raiders first downs. After two incompletions, Chris Denson found Jamin Andrews for the third Raiders touchdown of the quarter. After the extra point, the score was 21-0 with 3:54 left in the first.
The Sharks took over at their own 30-yard line to start their third drive of the game. Riverview not only got their first, first down of the game but on the end around to the wide receiver, the Sharks took it to the house for a touchdown making the score 21-7 with 2:13 left in the first.
After an incompletion on first, a Raiders holding backed them up even more. It didn’t stop the Raiders as Denson found Treon Williams for a deep pass, getting tackled inside the Sharks 30-yard line. Denson was sacked to end the first with the Raiders up 21-7.
On the first play of the second, Denson found TJ Knighten for the second time connecting for a touchdown. The Raiders missed the extra point, making the score 27-7 with 11:50 left in the first half.
A terrible return by the Sharks put them inside their own 20 yard line to start the drive. After two short runs, the Sharks broke a big run off before getting tackled inside the Raiders 10-yard line. An injury timeout was called with 9:17 left in the half. Fresh off the timeout, the Sharks fumbled it, this time Taevion Parker scooped it up for the Raiders and ran it back, 90 yards to the house for a Raiders defensive touchdown. The score was 34-7 with 8 minutes left in the half.
The Sharks attempted their first pass play of the half and it was incomplete. Then there were two small runs for the Sharks, forcing them to punt. The Raiders took over at midfield with 6:23 left in the half.
A big run by Denson made it first and goal for the Raiders. On 3rd and goal, a Raiders touchdown was negated due to a holding call, which made it third and long. A small run by Denson made it 4th down for the Raiders. After a Sharks injury delay, the Raiders kicked a field goal, extending their lead to 37-7 with 2:18 left in the half.
The Sharks started this drive aggressively, completing a pass for a first down to bring them to the 45-yard line. The Sharks then got backed up by a holding penalty. A targeting call on the Raiders gave the Sharks the first down and put them inside the Raiders 50-yard line. The Sharks got the first down on a nice curl route. Another Sharks holding backed them up to midfield again with 6 seconds left in the half. A bad rushing attempt by the Sharks quarterback sent them to halftime with the score standing at 37-7.
The second half started with the Sharks getting the ball. They attempted four straight runs and turned the ball over on downs on their side of the field. It took the raiders one play to score in the second half with a 20+ yard rushing touchdown. The score was now 44-7 with 8:30 left, and, with a 35+ lead, it’s a continuous clock.
After two incompletions for Riverview, Simeon Hogan got a pick 6 for the Raiders, making it 51-7. Another 3 and out for Riverview and a great return for the Raiders put them inside the Sharks 30.
TJ Knighten got the carry to start the 4th and made it to the 25-yard line. Denson then ran it up the middle on a quarterback draw. The Raiders failed to get the first down but they got another field goal, which made it 54-7 with 6:20 remaining in the 4th.
Two short runs by Riverview followed by an offsides to the Raiders made it 3rd and short. The Sharks got a completion in the curl route for a first down. After killing the clock, the game ended with a final score of 54-7.
The Raiders are now 3-1. In the 3 games they’ve won, they have scored 57 points per game on average, while allowing 19 in that span.