GOOD HOPE, Ala. – The Good Hope Raiders kicked off their postseason run with a heavy-weight matchup against Cherokee County Thursday night. The Warriors struck first to take an early lead and took a 13-7 lead before halftime, but the Raiders responded in the second half. Good Hope’s offense was able to put together great drives and hit on explosive plays in the second half, putting up 21 points to pull ahead of Cherokee County 28-26 and advance to round two.
The defense didn’t waste any time giving the ball to the offense, as Ross Clark recovered a Cherokee County fumble at the 47. A pair of 10-yard passes from Parker Johnson to Ayden Young and Tucker Screws helped Good Hope get to the 33. Mason Drake picked up a first down on the ground, then three plays later, Johnson found Rutherford for 20 yards and another first down. They didn’t do that after that, though, as they threw an incomplete pass on fourth down. The Warriors went on a long, methodical drive on their opening series. A 55-yard run put them at the five, and two plays later, they scored from a yard out to take an early 7-0 lead.
Good Hope picked up a first down on its next drive, but they were quickly forced to punt after that. The Raider defense, though, forced Cherokee County to punt, and a huge 26-yard pass from Johnson to Young put them at the 44. Two plays later, Johnson found Rutherford for nine yards and another first down. Two plays later, though, Johnson got hurt during a run. Web Buchanan came into the game and quickly made a difference in the game, as on fourth down, he connected with Young for 10 yards and a huge first down. Later that drive, a roughing the passer penalty, followed by an eight-yard run by Drake, put the ball at the five. On third down from the six, Buchanan found Rutherford for a six-yard score to tie the game up at seven late in the first half. A 32-yard run by the Warriors quickly put them in business at the 23, and they ended the drive by scoring on a one-yard run to give them a 13-7 lead at the half.
The Raiders got a first down two plays into the second half, then later that drive, a holding penalty on Cherokee County, followed by back-to-back big runs by Drake and Karson Hollis, put them at the 15. Another pass from Buchanan to Rutherford gave them another first down, as the ball was now at the nine. Drake touched the ball on three of the final four plays of the drive, including a one-yard score, as that gave Good Hope a 14-13 lead. The Warriors, though, didn’t waste any time finding the end zone on its opening series of the second half, as a 28-yard touchdown pass gave them the lead right back at 19-14 late in the third quarter.
The Raiders answered with a quick score of their own, as Buchanan found Rutherford over the middle for a 63-yard score to give them a 20-19 lead with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter. A 46-yard run by the Warriors quickly had them in business once again. Later that drive, another run put them at the 10, then a few plays later, Cody Stevens collected a huge sack on second down, and Cherokee County missed wide left on their field goal attempt. After picking up a first down, Good Hope was forced to punt, but the offense got the ball right back, as Clark recovered his second fumble of the day on the first play. Buchanan connected with Rutherford for 13 yards and a first down at the 13, then a personal foul penalty moved the ball up to the seven. A penalty moved the Raiders back to the 12, but Drake finished the drive strong, as his one-yard score made it 26-19. Buchanan found Rutherford for the two-point conversion to stretch their lead to 28-19 with a little over four minutes to go in the game.
The defense forced a turnover-on-downs on its next series, but Good Hope turned the ball over on downs on their next drive. The Warriors started from the 17 and quickly moved the ball down the field, and a seven-yard rushing touchdown cut it to 28-26 with less than a minute to go in the contest. Their onside kick attempt didn’t go 10 yards, and the Raiders kneeled a couple of times to help seal their 28-26 win over Cherokee County.
Buchanan finished 7/8 for 91 yards and a pair of scores for Good Hope (9-2). Rutherford ended up with 10 receptions for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Drake finished with 110 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Clark had a pair of fumble recoveries in the game, and Hunter Miller, along with Stevens, collected a sack in the contest as well.
Good Hope Head Coach Alan Scott was so proud of the way his team won the game, and how they put each other over themselves. He was also proud of how Web managed the game after the tough injury to Johnson.
“First thing I want to do is give God the glory. He gave these guys a heart for one another and a passion to come out and play this game tonight as hard as they could. They did that, so that was the difference in the game. Our guys just played for one another, and they just never backed down,” Scott said. “I can’t put it into words. Unfortunately, for Parker, he went down. He’s going to be okay. Web came in and absolutely managed the game the way we asked him to. For a 10th grader to do that on the spot, making plays on fourth down, and making the two-point conversion pass. Hats off to Web. He did a fantastic job.”
Coach Scott was proud of how Mason played as well and talked about the nerve-racking end to the game.
“Mason’s a tough kid, and they punished him. They hit him from the start of the game to the end of the game, and he kept running so hard, churning out those yards, just keeping the clock moving. Great game from Mason,” Scott said. “I was really hoping to get the ball back without them scoring, but they did a fantastic job, just chewing a little bit here and a little bit there. I thought that their quarterback, for the first time in the game, really settled in and was throwing some good balls. We were making tackles. We made too many penalties tonight. That’s going to come back to hurt us. We’ve got to get that cleaned up on both sides of the ball. We had our hands team ready. We got the ball back on the last onside kick, and that was it.”
Getting the chance to win a huge playoff game at home in front of what was a packed house tonight meant the world to coach Scott and his team. He’ll look to take the positives and clean up the negatives going into next week’s second-round game against West Morgan.
“Playing at home is just fantastic. We’re undefeated at home, 6-0. Our fans are great. Our student section, right now, is the best around, and our band is just awesome. Everybody just pitches in and does a great job trying to make the atmosphere wonderful,” Scott said. “You just have to keep the positives and go with that, and the negatives we try to fix. We’re playing a West Morgan team that’s really, really good also, so we’re just going to have to clean some things up and get ready to play.”
Good Hope will travel to take on West Morgan in round two of the Class 4A state playoffs next week.
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