Lake County Sentinel
Red Raiders suffer playoff loss 37-0, but future is bright
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
The Painesville Harvey Red Raiders completed their season on Friday night with a playoff loss to the Geneva Eagles 37-0 to complete the season 1-6.
The Red Raiders were behind the eight immediately as they fumbled the opening kick off giving the Eagles excellent field position at the Raiders 35. On the first play of the drive Eagles quarterback Ben Scibona kept the ball and scampered 35 yards to the end zone putting Geneva on top 7-0 with just 11 second off the first quarter clock.
The Red Raiders could not manage to get anything going on their first drive and were forced to punt, but Harvey defense came through and stopped the Eagles on down to get the ball back at their own 9. However, they could not capitalize as the Eagles forced an interception and did take advantage when Charlie Taylor scored on a 10-yard run to give the Eagles a 14-0 lead with 1:55 left in the first quarter.
The second quarter was a bit strange, as the Red Raiders moved the ball well but were penalized repeatedly. Harvey had two TD’s called back on holding penalties which could have tied the score 14-14. It seemed like some of the flags may have been a bit late. The flag on the second touchdown came far down the field after the Harvey ball carrier crossed the goal line. From that point on the Red Raider could not overcome the apparent mistakes.
With 3:44 left in the second quarter the Eagles to control of the game on a 20-yard run by Brady Peet to extend the lead to 21-0. That was the score at the half.
The Eagles extended their lead to 24-0 with 8:01 left on the third quarter clock when Ethan Yost converted a 25-yard field goal.
Taylor rushed for two more TD’s and Yost missed an extra point to give the Eagles a 37-0 win. The penalties were cleaned up in the second half for the Eagles and interestingly with the lead now large the Eagles were flagged multiple times.
For Harvey, the season ended, but this was just the beginning of a process for the Red Raiders under first year coach Mickey Mohner. Mohner is the right fit for the Red Raiders program as he played QB for the Red Raiders and led Wayne State (Detroit, Michigan) to the Division II National Championship game in college.
The Red Raiders roster is loaded with young talent with 27 players who are sophomore’s or freshman.
Many obstacles were in front of Mohner in his first year. He was a late hire as far as high school football coach go. Then the first day he was supposed to meet with his players COVID-19 interrupted everything. The normal practice and pre-season were anything but normal, but Mohner would never use that as an excuse.
The Harvey program has been down for a while, but looks to be on the right track as Mohner has full respect of the student-athletes on the roster and maybe more important in todays’ world respect of the parents of the athletes in the program. The fall of 2021 cannot come quick enough for the Red Raiders program and their loyal fan base..
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 10/09/2020 23:51
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