Randall’s fast start leads to season-opening win over Plainview

The Randall Raiders showed in Friday night’s season opener at Happy State Bank Stadium that they could get out of the gate quickly.

After that, though, they now need to show that they can finish the same way.

The Raiders scored on their first three possessions getting both basic and exotic to take a big early cushion and were able to comfortably coast by Plainview 26-16. There was a whole lot to like on both sides of the ball for Randall after one week.

As is often the case after season openers, though, the issue of a four-quarter game remains.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Randall coach Dan Sherwood said. “I thought we started extremely fast, and we had a big focus and emphasis and focus on that, but we’ve got to finish better. We’ve got to play cleaner, but all in all I’m pleased with our guys’ effort and preparation, and you never argue with a win.”

The way the Raiders started is what gave them a cushion to play with in the second half, as they took a 21-6 halftime lead. Plainview finished both halves strong, but Randall had already put the Bulldogs in too big of a hole by then.

On the first drive, Randall mainly leaned on Dylan Ray running the ball. Ray had four carries (all for first downs) for 64 yards on that initial possession. The Raiders cashed in when quarterback Kaison Benton kept the ball on a basic misdirection bootleg for an 8-yard score to make it 7-0.

In the second quarter, the Raiders got trickier. On a fourth and long at the Plainview 31-yard line they opted to go for it. Benton threw a backward pass to receiver Kaiden Miller, who hit, a wide-open Collin Miller (no relation) for a touchdown. For good measure, senior Kaiden Miller hit Benton on a two-point conversion pass to make it 15-0.

Such trickery was a bit of a leap of faith considering Kaiden Miller had never played quarterback.

“We’ve only run that play twice in practice, so I wasn’t expecting it,” Miller said. “As soon as they called it I thought there’s no way they just called this. I knew Collin was going to be open, I just didn’t know if I was going to get it to him or not.”

Randall’s scoring run ended when Isaiah Martinez scored on his only carry of the half, a 31-yard run to make it 21-0.

If nothing else, the Raiders showed their potential for offensive balance. They ran for 195 yards and threw for 204.

“You want to (mix it up) but at the same time you want to do what’s working,” Sherwood said. “We found different ways to move the ball and got a lot of different guys on the field but we’ve still got to finish better but I was pleased.”

Benton acquitted himself nicely in his first start, completing 18-of-30 passes for 173 yards, as seven Randall receivers caught passes.

Defensively, Randall put the defensive clamps on Plainview until 1:39 left in the half, when Seth Mayberry hit Maddox Ellis on a 39-yard scoring pass to cut it to 21-6 before halftime. The Bulldogs made the score look more respectable with 10 points in the final 67 seconds, well after the issue was resolved.

“Our defense did a really good job,” Sherwood said. “That was a really good group of skill kids for Plainview. Their receivers were good, and their quarterback was shifty. We couldn’t tackle him in the first half, but we got better in the second half.”

Randall’s defense actually created the five points the Raiders scored the rest of the way. After they had to punt following the second half kickoff, they forced Mayberry back into his own end zone where he intentionally grounded the ball for a safety and two points for Randall.

The Raiders got the ball back on a free kick and drove down to the Plainview 10 before the drive broke down, and Jacob Avalos kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 26-6.

Randall made Plainview’s life especially difficult running the ball. The Bulldogs had only 58 yards on the ground and were minus-1 yard rushing the ball in the second half.
Mayberry kept the Bulldogs in the game by throwing for 247 yards and two touchdowns.