RAIDERS BOUNCE BACK! | West Rusk runs over Diboll, 32-13
NEW LONDON – Now THAT was more like it.
That’s probably what West Rusk High School head football coach and athletic director Rafe Mata was thinking after his team’s second game of the 2024 season here at Bruce Bradshaw Stadium on campus Friday night, a 32-13 win over Diboll, a week after the Raiders lost at No. 1 Malakoff.
No shame in losing at Malakoff, for sure – but now, the Raiders have a win under their belts.
It’s time to roll.
West Rusk (1-1) will host Gladewater (1-1) on Thursday night this coming week, and Diboll (0-2) will host Rusk.
Both teams went through a feeling-out process early in the game – Diboll forced West Rusk to punt, and then the Raiders’ defense stuffed Diboll’s Jamauri Gallien on a fourth-down attempt, giving the ball back to the WR offense.
That would result in – well, not good things for the Lumberjacks.
The Raiders’ second drive would yield points, a 34-yard touchdown pass from Judson Dodson to Kemontrea McGregor with 4:26 in the first quarter. Emiliano Rodriguez’s extra point gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead.
Diboll punched back quickly. Beginning their drive at their own 33-yard-line, Diboll quarterback Brayden Wilson, after a short pick-up by Michael Mosley on first down, found Tyrese McMillian all the way down at West Rusk’s 28-yard-line. The Lumberjacks elected to keep it on the ground, and runs by Wilson, Mosley and Latavian Forney moved the ‘Jacks inside the West Rusk 11.
That’s when disaster struck. And his name was Cameron Robinson.
Robinson sacked Wilson on the final play of the first quarter, and at the start of the second quarter, Wilson’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, allowing the Raiders to shove Diboll out of the red zone without any points, and leave West Rusk up by the touchdown (7-0).
In the second quarter, after Diboll forced a punt and got the ball back at their own 39, Wilson hooked up with Jayden Miller immediately for a touchdown that, combined with the extra point by Ismael Delacruz, tied the game up at 7-all with 8:40 left in the half.
Reasoner got a good return on the kickoff, all the way almost to midfield, his own 43. A holding flag pushed West Rusk back a bit, and then Dodson found Hunter McCandless for a huge gain, all the way down to Diboll’s 26. A quick pass to Reasoner on first down fell incomplete, and then McCandless picked up a short gain on second down. On third down, McCandless got the call again, and picked up the first down, right at the 16, at the marker.
Dodson took the ball himself on second down, all the way to the Diboll 7, and two plays later, he connected with Reasoner for a touchdown. Rodriguez hit the point after, and with 4:48 left in the half, the Raiders had a touchdown lead (14-7).
A pack of Raiders met Diboll’s Kevin Dill on the kick return, and on top of that, a penalty flag backed the ‘Jacks up even more. Still, they’d find a way, and the way: a bomb from Wilson to McMillian, who took it the distance for the score.
The point after by Delacruz missed – and even though Diboll had gotten within a point (14-13), West Rusk would get the last word in the first half.
Kaynan Lacy set the Raiders up at their own 34 for the drive, with just over three minutes left in the half – plenty of time to do what would happen next.
After keeping it on the ground for the first two downs, McCandless connected with Kameron Brown for a third-down conversion to keep the drive going. McCandless would score with 1:19 left in the half, and send the Raiders into the locker room up by eight (20-13).
Cam Robinson showed up to disrupt Diboll’s first drive of the second half, as the Lumberjacks went for a fourth-down conversion, and Robinson threw Mosley for a loss, wrapping him up in the backfield.
West Rusk would score quickly: McCandless burst through for a big run to the Diboll 21, and then two plays later, Dodson took it himself, down to the 8. A keeper on first down to the 5 for Dodson, and then McCandless into the end zone on second down for the 5-yard score.
The point after missed this time, but West Rusk had begun to pull away: 26-13, with 7:10 left in the third.
West Rusk’s defense forced a Diboll punt, and then, similar to the Lumberjacks’ possession at the end of the first quarter, Diboll got inside West Rusk’s 10-yard-line at the end of the third quarter, but on fourth down, Wilson’s pass was incomplete – a turnover on downs.
The Raiders would add one more insurance score: Dodson grabbed a 26-yard run, to midfield, then reeled off the touchdown two plays later, scoring the game’s final points with 6:42 left (32-13).