On November 14th, the Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders got the revenge they were looking for against the Duval Tigers. The Raiders took home the victory, winning 26-12 in their first playoff game. 

Many players including senior captain, Matthew McFarland, agreed that it was a satisfying win against Duval. McFarland said, “it feels great winning such a big game, especially remembering how they beat us last year so it was good to get them back.” Junior JaQuan Brown agreed, “it really felt good winning the game against Duval in the semifinals due to the fact they beat us last year on our field, so we wanted to come back and redeem ourselves.”

After having an undefeated regular season last year, on November 22nd, 2014, the Raiders lost 14-13 against Duval. The team agreed that the feeling after the loss, was one they could not put into words. The team went out on the field this season ready to get the rematch they wanted against the Tigers. Senior captain Jaharr Johnson said “it felt good and exciting to win in the first round [of] playoffs.”

Brown also added that “as a team, I honestly feel like we played both of the sides good against Duval, offense, defense and also special teams. Everybody was focused and just went out there and did their job.” McFarland felt that they “started fast and got a good lead at the first half. We were able to run the ball effectively and score.”

However, every game calls for improvement and progress. McFarland said, “we have to work on not turning the ball over and making sure everyone does their job. We have to make tackles and force more turnovers on defense.” The Raiders made all their touchdowns in the first half leading the game 26-6. The team took a strong lead and held on to it throughout the rest of the game.

The Raiders are looking to continue on their win for their next game. The team will be moving on to the regional final game against Wise High School. Brown said “I feel like the Wise game will turn out good. We have to go out there, focus, and stay positive throughout the whole process and just do what we been doing throughout the whole year.”

The game will be on November 20th, at 7 pm @ Wise.