Raiders are winners

Published 12:44 am Saturday, November 1, 2014

It has been nearly 30 years since Scott Swantic — father of Southeast Whitfield High School junior quarterback Will Swantic — played under center for the school’s football team. It was during his time there, in 1986, that the Raiders last had a winning football season.

Until now.

The younger Swantic threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for two more as Southeast surged past Ridgeland 37-20 at home Friday night to clinch its first winning season in 28 years.

“I’m really excited that I don’t have to hear my dad telling me that we haven’t won since he played,” Will joked. “Now I can shut him up and say, ‘Hey, we had a winning season this year.’”

Swantic completed 9 of 15 passes for 124 yards and picked up 148 yards on the ground in the Region 7-4A game. Many of his runs came on read-option plays, but he had no problem slipping the grasp of Ridgeland (3-6, 1-5) defenders and scrambling for big gains when he couldn’t find an open receiver.

Teammate Tyler Brown added 129 rushing yards, including a 50-yard touchdown on an inside handoff late in the third quarter, which extended the Raiders’ lead to 24-14. Wideout Colter Faith pulled down five catches for 63 yards and a touchdown for Southeast (6-3, 3-3).

“This was a real team victory, and I’m just so proud of all our players and coaches who have worked so hard to make this happen,” Southeast coach Sean Gray said. “We finally got the monkey off our backs, and it’s a really special night for the whole community.”

With the win, the Raiders remained in the driver’s seat for the Class 4A state playoffs. If they win next week’s regular-season finale at Northwest Whitfield, they’re in. If they lose, they could fall into a three-team mini-playoff with Northwest and Heritage-Catoosa.

Ridgeland, which led by a touchdown in the first quarter, responded after Brown’s 50-yard scoring play as bruising sophomore running back Chris Henderson rumbled 6 yards across the goal line to close the gap to 24-20 at the start of the fourth period. It was his second score of the night — he had broken off a 45-yarder in the third period, before Brown’s big play — as he frequently carried a swarm of Southeast would-be tacklers on his back as they struggled to bring him down.

Henderson finished with 144 yards on 14 carries.

Just moments after Henderson’s second touchdown, the Panthers recovered an onside kick at Southeast’s 36. But the Raiders forced the second Ridgeland fumble of the night to get the ball back. Swantic soon got free for a 38-yard touchdown scamper to widen the margin again, 30-20.

The lively quarterback put the finishing touches on the victory by driving deep into Ridgeland territory. On a fourth-and-goal from 12 yards out, Swantic juked and weaved to avoid Ridgeland pressure. He darted to the far side of the field, then back to the near side, where he found Cody Barnes in the back of the end zone and delivered a perfect strike.

“I try to make plays when I need to, but our offensive line really played great all night, on both runs and passes,” Swantic said. “And our defense was outstanding. They came up with big plays in the clutch when we needed them most.”

After Southeast punted on the game’s opening possession, Caderius Word opened the scoring for the Panthers with a 30-yard touchdown run.

The Raiders, fighting high winds and rain, struggled to move the ball until their third possession, when they mounted a 15-play scoring drive that chewed up seven minutes and began at their own 14. Swantic connected with Faith to cap the effort.

“It was tough facing that wind early on, but eventually it died down and we were able to get into a rhythm,” Gray said. “Will did a great job running our offense. So many of our guys, really, played extremely well tonight.”

After a missed 34-yard field goal on its next possession, Southeast forced a Ridgeland three-and-out and got the ball back at midfield, setting up an eventual Swantic touchdown run to make it 14-7 at halftime.

Southeast kicker Victor Garcia nailed a 39-yard field goal early in the third quarter to extend the Raiders’ lead before Henderson scored his first touchdown for Ridgeland.

Southeast Whitfield 37, Ridgeland 20

Ridgeland 7 0 7 6 — 20

Southeast 0 14 10 13 — 37

First Quarter

R — Caderius Word 30 run (Ivan Ojeda kick)

Second Quarter

S — Colter Faith 8 pass from Will Swantic (Victor Garcia kick)

S — Swantic 15 run (Garcia kick)

Third Quarter

S — Garcia 39 field goal, 31:28

R — Chris Henderson 45 run (Ojeda kick)

S — Tyler Brown 50 run (Garcia kick)

Fourth Quarter

R — Henderson 6 run (kick failed)

S — Swantic 38 run (kick failed)

S — Cody Barnes 12 pass from Swantic (Garcia kick)