The Davidson Raiders senior boys football team opened their new home field, called The Ranch, to a big crowd all decked out in Raiders blue and white, and of course Roughriders green. They packed the stands and cheered their hearts out in anticipation of football coming back to the Midway Town.

Unfortunately, it was their opponent’s fans, all dressed in Hanley Sabres red, who had the most reason to cheer as the Sabres trounced the Raiders beating the home club easily 58-0 in the Raiders first home game in over 30 years Sept. 14.

“We knew coming in that Hanley was a strong team with great players,” said Raiders head coach Jason Low. “We knew it was going to be a strong test and again a slow start for us made it difficult. We were struggling to find the intensity and need to work on channeling our aggression.”

Raiders linebacker Jon Taylor caught the initial kickoff to start the game and proceeded to get stuffed by a swarming Hanley defence. The Raiders tried on that first play to move the ball down the field, but the Sabres were too strong and ended up taking over on offence after three Raiders downs that didn’t really go anywhere.

It was all Hanley from that point on.

Sabres quarterback Josh Anderson quickly ran the ball into the Raiders end zone for his first of many scoring plays on the night. Anderson, in his third year as Hanley’s starting QB, led the Sabres offence in every possible way running in for three touchdowns, passing for another three and even kicking the converts. The Raiders simply could find no way to stop him.

“Our defence continues to experiment with competitive formations and we need to find one that will work with the guys,” said Low.

The crowd, which was loud in their support of the Raiders at the beginning of the game, seemed to be at about the same volume as the small Hanley contingent by the end of the first quarter, with the Sabres leading 20-0. By the end of the second quarter and the score way out of hand at 48-0, the crowd on the Davidson side was mostly silent.

The second half opened just where the first half left off, with Anderson running past the Raiders defence on his way to bringing the score up to 54-0. The Sabres basically shut down their offence after that, choosing to practise their defensive formations instead.

To read more please see the Sept. 24 print edition of The Davidson Leader.