What Randall had been doing offensively all season, though, held the fort and it’s why the Raiders are advancing.
In living up to their hype as a productive offensive machine, the Raiders didn’t punt once against Andrews. That as much as anything explains why they survived a 42-36 decision and will live to play next week.
That will come against legendary state powerhouse Stephenville next Friday at 7 p.m. in Snyder. Stephenville advanced by beating Randall’s District 2-4A Division I rival Hereford 35-7 on Thursday.
This win didn’t come as easily as Randall’s first playoff game a week earlier. The Raiders (11-1) had their way offensively in a 71-27 win over Ysleta in bi-district, but they had to work a little harder than that to beat Andrews (5-7).
“You never know what’s going to happen in playoff football,” said Randall coach Dan Sherwood, who for the first time in his coaching career is advancing to the third round of the postseason. “We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve got to clean up which were some uncharacteristic things, but all in all the kids still found a way to finish and that’s what matters.”
Randall never led by any more than 14 points in the fourth quarter and needed a couple of first downs in the final two minutes to get some breathing room and the victory.
But while the game never turned into a rout, it never seemed like the Raiders weren’t in control.
In a run-dominated first half, Andrews seemed to be playing keep away with Randall, but the Raiders did enough offensively to cling to a 21-20 halftime lead.
Andrews established its game plan from the outset, keeping the ball for almost nine minutes after the opening kickoff, all on running plays. The Mustangs couldn’t turn time of possession into points, though, as Kyle Covington missed a 28-yard field goal.
It was the first of three touchdowns for Ray, who had a game-high 191 yards on 30 carries.
“We thought we were going to air it out a little bit more because they like to have eight in the box,” Ray said. “We thought our receivers would be unaccounted for. That quickly changed as the game went on. We found our rhythm in the running game and we stayed with it.”
Andrews seemed just as wed to the run as the Raiders. The Mustangs ran an old-school offense with the quarterback lining up under center every play.
“With the type of offense Andrews has it’s tough to stop but I’m proud of our guys,” Sherwood said. “We had to do what was working and give our defense some rest. That’s all you can do. We knew physicality was going to be the number one factor with (Andrews) and it’s going to be that way from here on out as the games only get tougher.”
The rest of the first half scoring by both teams was done in the second quarter. Andrews got on the board on a 4-yard run by Kade Adams to cut the lead to 7-6.
Andrews eventually took a 20-14 lead on consecutive scoring runs by Leeroy Millan, the second of which was set up when the Mustangs stopped the Raiders on downs at midfield.
Millan ran for 130 yards on 23 carries, but only 18 of those came in the second half.
The lead only lasted for 48 seconds for Andrews, though. After not completing a pass for most of the half, Randall’s Kaison Benton hit Kaiden Miller on a hitch pass, and Miller did the rest himself, taking it 54 yards for a score with 2:21 left in the half to give Randall a 21-20 halftime lead.
Benton had his best stretch passing after the Raiders got the second half kickoff, as he completed two passes to tight end Breken Melton for 60 yards, including a 13-yard scoring pass on third and goal to make it 28-20. Andrews answered back after that, ending an 80-yard drive on a 3-yard scoring run by Merq Saiz and a conversion run by Millan to tie it at 28.
“We’ve got to keep getting better and the fact that we’re still playing always leaves room for improvement,” Sherwood said.
The Raiders answered back with a 10-yard scoring run by Ray to make it 35-28 late in the third quarter, and they never trailed again.
It was a tough game for many of the Raiders to get on with considering they were dealing with tragedy. Not far from where the Raiders clinched the area championship, Zak Bol, a former Randall basketball player who graduated last spring and was attending school at Texas Tech, was killed in an auto accident in Lubbock earlier in the week.
“We all just had faith in each other to get that first down,” Ray said. “We all just hunkered down and got the job done. We were all just gassed and had to soul search. We had a lot to play for today with our buddy passing away, so it was an emotional win.”
Ray and several other Randall players had black patches under their eyes reading “LLZB”, short for Long Live Zak Bol.
Andrews wasn’t quite through, though. The Mustangs put together an impressive drive, capped by a 2-yard run by Adams and a two-point run by Millan to cut it to 42-36 with two minutes remaining, and were just a touchdown and an extra point away from pulling off a comeback.
However, Andrews botched the ensuing kickoff, as it didn’t even go the full 10 yards. The Raiders took over in Andrews territory, and Ray reeled off runs of 16 and 23 yards for a pair of first downs to clinch the win.
Both teams passed the 400-yard barrier in total offense, with Randall outgaining Andrews by a 482-407 margin.