The Somerset Berkley Raiders defeat the Dighton-Rehoboth Falcons 14-6 Saturday afternoon, behind a punishing running attack and a stout defensive performance.

Thanks to the EEE virus, Friday night lights have morphed into Saturday Afternoon shows, which certainly doesn’t have the same ring to it. Nonetheless. the time change hasn’t seemed to affect the Raiders. From start to finish the Raiders played with an excellent effort and battled from whistle to whistle.

The Raiders struck early in the first thanks to a masterful play from quarterback Robbie Shaker. Doing his best Houdini trick, Shaker faked a hand-off up the middle, then waited until the opportune time to pull the ball around the right side off the offensive line to run it in for the touchdown.

For a while, the game stagnated, with many turnovers on downs and missed opportunities. Both teams run defenses were stout, and neither team could do much through the air. The Raiders stuck to their traditional grit-and-grind offense, while their pass defense consistently disrupted the Falcons passing attack. The Raiders produced constant pressure on DR Falcons quarterback John Marcelle, allowing him very little time to throw the football.

At the start of the fourth, Somerset broke the scoreless drought with a fantastic 24-yard touchdown from junior running back Ethan Robidoux that upped the lead to 14 points. Just when it looked like SB would win handily, DR answered. Falcons back Jared Ramos broke one lose, taking it 64 yards to the house to bring the deficit back to just one possession.

In the end, the Raider pass rush was just too much for the Falcons to handle. Ryan Carr had a key sack late, and the Raiders were able to force a long fourth down that the Falcons couldn’t convert late that ultimately led to the end of the game, securing the win for the Raiders. Somerset Berkley improves their record to 2-1 and moves to 2-0 in SCC play.

Captain Owen Santos said after the game that “Nobody believed in us after the Durfee loss, not even my own grandmother, but it put a chip on our shoulders. But, that motivated us to work harder and put up the last two wins”. Senior Luke Dube added “As someone who’s been out on injury for the first few weeks, I’m proud to see my brothers succeed after a rough first week. This isn’t our first rodeo. We need a few more wins to secure the SCC, and this team is ready. Go Raiders”. The Raider’s next game is Saturday afternoon against Coventry.