by Julia Owens

RALEIGH, N.C.
The Southampton Academy Raiders Varsity football team improved to 5-2 on Oct. 6, with a 26-18 win over the Grace Christian School Eagles in Raleigh, North Carolina.

After a couple of defensive stops for both teams, the Raiders got on the board when defensive ends, Corbin Womble and Josh Smiley, sacked the Eagles’ quarterback for a safety. After a Raider fumble, Caleb Kidd got the ball back with an interception at the SA 20-yard line. Following a punt, the Eagles drove to the Raider 15-yard line where they turned the ball over on downs. On the Eagles’ next possession, Wyatt Jernigan pounced on a Grace fumble at the SA 30-yard line with 2:10 left before the halftime. The Raiders then employed their 2-minute offense to perfection behind the running of Kidd and passing of Jernigan to score on a 12-yard run by Kidd with 56 seconds left in the half. Kidd also ran the 2-point conversion.

The second half saw the offenses get a bit more in gear. After consecutive scores by the home team on a 17-yard pass play and a 24-yard run, SA was down 12-10 as the Raiders thwarted both conversion attempts. The Raiders got on the board again when Ian Mizelle bulled in from three yards out. Mizelle also caught a pass from Kidd for the conversion to put SA up by a score of 18-10.

The fourth quarter saw Grace knot the score at 18 on a 17 yard pass play. Once again the 2-point conversion was unsuccessful as the Raider defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone. After trading punts, the Raiders went up for good when Kid hit Mizelle on an 8-yard pass with 2:10 left in the contest. After a Kidd conversion run the Raiders were able to hold the Eagles to a 4 and out and then run out the clock for the 26-18 victory.

For the night, Caleb Kidd was huge with 135 yards rushing on 21 attempts while also throwing for a score.

He also had an interception, ran two conversions and threw for one.

The Raider defense on the night was tremendous holding the Eagles to 70 yards rushing on 35 attempts. Linebackers Montae Barrett and Ian Mizelle, along with defensive end Corbin Womble, paced this unit.

The Raiders return to action today, Oct. 13, at Arendell Parrott Academy in Kinston, North Carolina. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

JULIA OWENS handles athletic communications for Southampton Academy. Contact her at 653-2512.