Raiders fail to take advantage of opportunities

Columbia knows what it did, or didn’t do, on Sept. 22 in a 49-20 crossover Patriot Athletic Conference loss to Buckeye at Columbia Raiders Stadium.

Missed opportunities and a tale of two halves was the story for them as they dropped to 3-2 overall and Buckeye remained undefeated at 5-0.

“Sometimes you get beat by a better team, and that happened tonight,” Columbia coach Jason Ward said. “I give our kids a lot of credit. I’m really proud of their effort. We just got beat by a better team.”

The Raiders trailed, 2820, at the half and to open up the second half, created a couple of big turnovers. Free safety/quarterback Jared Bycznski picked off Buckeye QB Adam Fauver, and a couple of minutes later, linebacker Danny Snakovsky recovered a Bucks fumble at the Raiders’ 48-yard line. But Columbia failed to score on both possessions.

With 3:24 in the quarter, the Raiders attempted a fake punt on fourthand-14 in their own territory, but lost yardage. Buckeye made them pay when Fauver picked up a 15-yard gain, followed by a 7-yard score to take a 3520 lead.

A fumble and injury to running back Brandon Coleman dealt Columbia a double blow. Coleman left with 188 yards on 26 carries and two TDs — 158 came in the first half.

“I thought our guys came out in the third quarter and played great,” Ward said. “Problem was it was deep in our end and we couldn’t get a first down. We couldn’t get anything going.”

Fauver started the fourth with another rushing score from 10 yards out to dent the Raiders’ spirits, 42-20. The Raiders mounted a last drive but Bucks linebacker Anthony Watkins intercepted a pass at the Buckeye 13-yard line.

Buckeye put the final exclamation point with 51 seconds left when back Austin Bir galloped 62 yard for a TD.

Buckeye had 277 total rushing yards to Columbia’s 218. The Raiders had 21 passing yards.

“I thought Coleman was outstanding,” Ward added. “Our offensive line was outstanding and the game plan was outstanding. We’re trying to be as balanced as we can, but we have to get things going in the passing game.”

The Raiders had no trouble scoring in the first half. Early in the first, a Raiders fumble in the red zone was recovered by Ben Alten in the end zone for a 7-0 Columbia lead. But, Buckeye Justin Canedy returned the kickoff 86 yards to tie the game..

After a Columbia turnover Canedy ran 68 yards for a 14-7 lead.

The Bucks then recovered an onside kick, leading to a Fauver 5-yard rushing TD and 21-7 lead.

Before the quarter ended, Coleman gave the Raiders a lift by bursting for a 34-yard TD to cut it, 21-14.

Buckeye scored again to start the second when Canedy caught a 24-yard pass, setting up a Dominic Monaco 5-yard score. Toward the end of the half, Coleman returned a 40yard punt, setting up a 2-yard rushing score to trail at the half, 2820.

“I think we learned that we’re a pretty good football team,” Ward said. “I don’t think the score was really indicative of how tough we made it on those guys. We did some really nice things and were only down one score at halftime — and we kept it that way for a while. We have to refocus and all the goals we set are still out in front of us.

“We’re going to drop a little bit in the standings but we feel we can make that up.”