Photo by George Kunke - Raven halfback Joseph Villapando breaks a tackle during his fourth quarter winning touchdown run against Ilwaco in the season opener (Feb. 15). Villalpando, a senior at Raymond HS, gained 183 all-purpose yards, scored 3 touchdowns
SOUTH BEND - It was befitting that the Raymond-South Bend Ravens combined football team played their inaugural game on President's Day as history was made last Monday (Feb. 15) before a small crowd on a rainy day on a mud-filled Millam Field in South Bend. The Ravens did not disappoint their fans while winning on a late touchdown. Raymond-South Bend splashed and splattered its way past Ilwaco's Fishermen 24-13.
"The biggest key to our win was just not giving up and battling to the final whistle," Raven Assistant Football Coach Mike Tully told the Herald. "We made some mistakes in key situations early, but we were able to wear them down as the game went on and were finally able to get some breaks to go our way in the fourth quarter."
With the exception of a few plays, Raymond's defense shut down Ilwaco's offense.
"I think we had a pretty good gameplan going in," Tully said. "We knew who their top guys were and geared up our defense to try to stop them. About half of their total yardage on offense came on the 99-yard touchdown run when we had a chance to stop the runner in the backfield."
The Ravens scored the winning touchdown with 1:54 left in the game on a quick pass sweep play from Adrian Quintana to Joseph Villalpando, who caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and then raced 44 yards down the right side untouched. The 2-point conversion run was stopped and the Ravens led 6-0.
"It was just one of our basic sweep plays," Tully said. "It is the first one we put in at the beginning of the season and our guys ran it to perfection."
The Ravens scored first on their first play from scrimmage on a flashy 62-yard run by halfback Josh Johnson when he darted off right tackle and raced down the sideline.
Ilwaco went in front on a 99-yard racehorse run by Dylan Simonson on a 3rd and 14. Simonson broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and was gone free to the endzone. The kick made it 7-6 early in the first quarter.
The Fishermen took a 13-6 lead with 8:17 to go in the third quarter on a 34-yard scamper by freshman halfback Kaemon Sawa. The PAT was blocked.
Raymond-South Bend's Deleak Hubbard bolted free off left guard for a 47-yard touchdown run with 7:58 left to play, but the 2-point run attempt was fumbled on a missed handoff, so IHS led 13-12.
Villalpando closed out the scoring with his second TD on a 27-yard run around right end with 1:27 to play.
Plowing open holes on the muddy field for Raymond-South Bend were starting offensive linemen Hayden Stephens, Ty Reidinger, Kyle Strozyk, Branson Williams and Jaxson Freeman. Johnson rambled for 114 yards rushing, Villalpando galloped for 103 rushing yards, and Hubbard scooted for 71 yards rushing.
"The whole offensive line did a great job throughout the game," Tully said. "There were some small mistakes here and there, but overall, they executed very well for the first game."
Defensively, Ty Reidinger racked up 10 total tackles, Villalpando collected 9 tackles and Stephens made 8 stops. Stephens and Freeman made fumble recoveries and Maximillian Crow intercepted a pass to set up the last touchdown.
"Great job by all the Ravens," Tully added.
The Ravens (1-0) play next against Wahkiakum (2-0) this Friday night, 7 pm, at Millam Field. Ilwaco (1-1) visits North Beach (1-0) Friday.
The Mules opened the season with a 61-0 pasting of Toutle Lake and then routed Morton-White Pass 41-8 last Saturday.
"Wahkiakum is always a tough team to play," Tully said. "They are very well coached and have some really good senior players. Offensively, they are very similar to us. They are Wing-T based but will run a variety of formations and have a number of wrinkles to their base plays. Defensively, they typically run a 5-2 type scheme against us."
Tully said the Mules' top players are Ashden Niemeyer (Sr, G/MLB), Chance Cothren (Sr, RB/FS), Gabe Moon (Jr, QB/MLB) and Jake Leitz (Sr, RB/CB).
"Despite what their coach might tell you, they've got both size and speed," Tully said. "It should be a good matchup for us."
Raven Notes: The game versus Ilwaco was originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 13, but was postponed because of bad weather...Raymond-South Bend's game at Ocosta in Westport on Feb. 19 was cancelled because the Wildcats had to move down to 8-man football...There were only approximately 45 people in the stands for the Ilwaco game and there were roughly 25 cars parked with people watching the game and sounding their horns after touchdowns.