Despite 2nd Half Rally by Langston Hughes, Mays Pulls Away for 47-28 Win

Friday night the Mays Raiders hosted the Langston Hughes Panthers in a very anticipated region match-up. The Raiders were coming into the night with a lot of emotions as earlier in the week their head coach, Corey Jarvis, was fired following an investigation surrounding booster club funds. With the firing of their coach as motivation, the Raiders quickly jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first half but the Panthers cut into that lead making it a 27-14 game at the half. Langston Hughes went to work quick at the start of the second half as the Panthers were able to put together a one minute and forty five second drive that ended with quarterback #1 Isaiah Green connecting with #9 Demetrius Whitmore for a 25-yard touchdown pass making it a 27-21 game.

#9 Demetrius Whitmore fights his way to endzone

On their ensuing possession, Mays worked their way down field before ending the drive with a 3-yard run up the middle by running back #23 Armis Stokes for the touchdown but the Raiders failed to convert the 2-point conversion putting them up 33-21. Despite Mays going up by twelve, Langston Hughes continued to put together scoring drives as they answered the Raiders with a 5-yard touchdown reception by #5 Sean Nelson cutting the deficit down to five with the score 33-28. The Panther's defense was able to come up with a big stop early in the fourth and looked to build off their moment and put together another scoring drive but Mays' #5 Antonio Grier came up with a big interception and returned it for the score as the Raiders went back up 40-28.

#5 Antonio Grier heads to endzone after int

The Panthers weren't able to reach the endzone on their next possession, as they were forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Raiders, who capitalized by scoring on a run up the middle by Arnis Stokes for his second score of the half giving the Raiders a 47-28 lead with 6:28 left in the game. That score would go on to be the final score pushing the Raiders to 2-1 and 1-0 in their region. Mays is at New Manchester next Friday while Langston Hughes (2-1, 0-1 Region) faces Tri-Cities at home.