RENO—Friday’s contest at Damonte Ranch between the Mustangs and Raiders could end up on a defensive highlight film. It would be a video of what not to do.
Both defensive units struggled mightily to give any resistance to either high-powered offense in Reed’s wild 58-39 win.
“They’re a big front,” Damonte Ranch coach Shawn Dupris said. “They’re like a snowplow coming through there.”
The Raiders racked up a staggering 686 yards of total offense in the win, scoring on nine of 12 possessions—including taking a knee inside Damonte’s 10-yard line at the end of the game.
Led by freshman quarterback Cade McNamara for all but one possession, the Mustangs piled up 483 yards of offense and stood toe-to-toe with what is widely regarded as the most prolific offense in the DI North.
“I was not surprised (by Damonte’s offense),” Reed senior tight end/defensive end Parker Houston said. “They got some speed and they got some good, agile players. I don’t think we realized, you know, how good they actually were.”
The Raiders were in control for the overwhelming majority of the night but the upset alert went on early in the fourth quarter. With the Raiders sitting on a 51-39 lead, senior quarterback Matt Denn was strip sacked and gave the ball back to Damonte, just 41 yards from making the contest a one-possession game.
Denn is strip sacked and the upset alert is on.
— Nathan Shoup (@Trib_Shoup) September 5, 2015
After allowing touchdowns on Damonte’s first three drives of the second half, Reed’s defense finally made big play to pick up Denn. A holding call and a false start put the Mustangs behind the chains before defensive tackle Nick Gregg dropped McNamara on third and long to force a punt—the fourth and final punt of the night.
As it did all night, Reed’s offense then marched the length of the field (89 yards on 13 plays) and Jorden Carter put the game away with a bulldozing 6-yard touchdown run to stretch the lead to 58-39 with less than four minutes left.
“Obviously we don’t want to give up that many points,” Reed coach Ernie Howren said. “But I’ll tell you what, the last two series I thought our defense stepped up and did exactly what we needed them to do.”
Following Carter’s touchdown, the Raiders’ defense forced a turnover on downs on four plays, ending with a Houston sack of McNamara.
Houston, who has verbally committed to play tight end at San Diego State, is better known for his offensive prowess. After a quiet opener at Carson, the tight end caught a pair of touchdown passes in the win.
“I’m a team player so against Carson really didn’t affect me but it does feel good to be more involved,” Houston said.
Damonte’s first three possessions of the night resulted in a turnover on downs and a pair of punts while Reed scored touchdowns on its first five possessions as the guests jumped to a 35-14 lead with seven minutes still to play in the first half.
Reed led 42-21 at the break and was set to receive the second-half kick but Dupris caught the Raiders off guard with a successful surprise onside kick. Robert Garlock went 49 yards down the sideline on the Mustangs next play to cut the gap to two possessions, 42-27, after Houston blocked the PAT.
Damonte recovers onside kick to start second half then goes 49 yards on first play. Holy swing. Reed’s lead cut to 42-27.
— Nathan Shoup (@Trib_Shoup) September 5, 2015
“We were going for it,” Dupris said of the decision to onside kick. “We had to make something happen and it was nice that we got it and we made a big play right away and changed the momentum for us a little bit.”
Reed’s offense proceeded to score on three of its next four possession to prevent the comeback.
The Raiders improved to 2-0, 0-0 and will play their first home game of the season next Friday against Galena. The Mustangs dropped to 1-1, 0-0.
“We will be back at film at 8 a.m. like we always do,” Howren said. “That’s what we do.”
*Individual stats for both teams were unavailable
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