Second-half adjustments lead Harding past Boardman
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BOARDMAN -- Warren G. Harding, after taking an early lead and struggling to stop Boardman's rushing attack in the first half, finished with a near-flawless second half to defeat the rival Spartans 33-14 on the road.
"I'm very happy with the performance," Raiders head coach Matt Richardson said. "Anytime you're playing on the road, it takes a different type of focus to win. D.J. Dota is a good friend of mine, and I know his teams are always gonna give me their best."
On the first drive of the game, Boardman's defense forced a three-and-out, bringing on Harding punter Jaron Edmonds, who booted the ball away after his offense gained only one yard in three plays.
Edmonds' punt, however, went end over end and went through the Spartans returner's hands. The Raiders' coverage team seized on the loose ball, recovering it at the Boardman 27-yard line to give their offense another chance at the end zone.
Harding enjoyed far more success on the subsequent drive, as quarterback James Jones found Kai Parker for a first-down completion before Elijah Phillips found his groove on the ground. Phillips rushed for 9- and 4-yard gains, setting up first-and-goal from the 3-yard line, where he punched it in for a touchdown with 8:54 left in the first quarter. The Raiders' two-point try was unsuccessful, leaving the game at 6-0.
Following a Spartans three-and-out of their own, Phillips broke free on an inside run in what was shaping up to be a 35-yard rushing touchdown. Just before Phillips reached the goal line, though, Boardman defensive back Jordan Hodge tackled him, lodging the ball free. The ball, after nearly being recovered by a Harding player, bounced out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.
The momentum was short-lived for the Spartans, who immediately gave the ball back to the Raiders when Logan Miller, while under duress on the run, threw an interception to Austin Blackwell, who returned it back inside the Boardman 10.
Denied moments earlier, Phillips then earned his second rushing touchdown of the night on a 4-yard score to put Harding ahead 13-0 with 5:39 left in the opening period.
"Yeah, that did not help. That was not the place that we needed to start, with two turnovers," Dota said. "So in a game like this ... turnovers are gonna [determine] this game. And we put ourselves in a bad start to start with, but I was proud of the way our guys responded."
In danger of falling behind even further, the Spartans' offense put together a much-needed touchdown drive after getting the ball back.
The recipe for their success proved to be the rushing attack, with senior bruising backs Ryan Mitchell and Frank Butto leading the way. The pair carried much of the load on the 12-play, seven-and-half-minute drive, during which Boardman exclusively ran the ball.
After a false start put the Spartans behind the chains, Butto and Mitchell alternated carries, making up the lost ground and driving deep into Raiders territory as the first quarter ended and the second began. After a 4-yard run by Butto picked up first down and Mitchell got Boardman to the 5-yard line, Butto put his team on the scoreboard with a rushing touchdown with 10:04 remaining in the half.
In contrast to its opponent, Harding attacked through the air on the next drive. The idea worked well initially, with a flip sweep to Matt Richardson yielding a 30-yard pickup on the first play.
However, a few incompletions and a false start stalled out the Raiders, who had to settle for a field goal. Fortunately, Edmonds made sure Harding got points out of the drive, as he made a 48-yard field goal to put his team up 16-7 four minutes into the second quarter.
Boardman's offense then picked up exactly where it left off, with the Butto-Mitchell rushing attack taking the Spartans from their own 20 into the end zone after 11 plays and nearly seven minutes. This time, Mitchell earned the touchdown when he ran it in from 2 yards out with 1:17 left in the half.
"We had to make a couple adjustments to that Wing-T," coach Richardson said. "They were going unbalanced over and our guys weren't sliding over a man. They didn't understand what we were trying to get them to do."
Although the Harding offense and an untimely Boardman penalty put him in potential position to do so, Edmonds was unable to add points from long range to close the quarter. The senior kicker's 52-yard attempt as time expired fell short and sailed left to keep the game separated by a pair of points going into the break.
After emerging from the locker room, the Spartans' plan of attack suddenly proved wholly ineffective. To start the half, the Raiders forced back-to-back three-and-outs from the Boardman offense, which gained just 6 yards between the two possessions.
"They started moving a little bit," Dota said of Harding's defensive adjustments. "I think we got a little bit better towards -- maybe we only had one possession -- but I thought we did a better job in the fourth quarter. They started moving their guys a little bit more, and that gave us a little bit of problems. And we're young upfront, so things like that happen. Those guys aren't used to it, and it's going to take them time to adapt as the game goes on."
Meanwhile, Harding enjoyed success on the ground and in eating up valuable time.
Relying primarily on Phillips and Makhi Brogdon out of the backfield, the Raiders passed once and ran the ball 11 times over a 7:06 span before Edmonds made a 38-yard field goal to extend Harding's lead to 19-14 with 3:22 to go in the third period.
"All year, we've been a big-play team," coach Richardson said. "I was more happy with coming out in the second half, establishing the fact that we were going to run the ball and kicking that field goal."
On their next drive, Harding did not need nearly as much time, as Jones completed a pass to Richardson, who found space and ultimately the end zone for a 68-yard touchdown reception to put the Raiders up 26-14 a minute into the fourth quarter.
Although the Spartans managed to drive the ball on their next possession, the offense soon stalled out. Then, after false start backed them up, Miller's pass on fourth-and-11 fell incomplete, giving the ball back to Harding with under six minutes to play.
Boardman similarly turned the ball over on downs the next time its offense took the field, which allowed Harding's Ethan Harden to scamper for the game's final touchdown.
"We played really well for a half. We got to do that for two more quarters after that," Dota said. "We didn't start the game -- it could have been the worst start possible. But our guys kept fighting. I don't think our guys quit. That's all we could ask for and to keep getting better."
Boardman is now 0-7 this year. The Spartans have a short week ahead, as they host St. Vincent-St. Mary on Thursday.
Harding improved to 4-3 on the season with the win, its eighth in the last nine meetings with the Spartans. The Raiders visit Cardinal Mooney next Friday.
"Our team needs to have a great week of practice and road focus and get ready to play a really good team at Stambaugh Stadium," coach Richardson said.