Raiders beat Colts in playoffs

Published 10:43 pm Monday, November 16, 2015

Raiders running back Tariq Mangrum runs the ball in Monday night’s game against the Colts at Memorial Stadium.  The Raiders won the game 14-0 to advance to the semifinals of the 9-and 10-year-old playoffs. The Raiders will play the Bears on Thursday at 5 p.m. --Daniel Evans

Raiders running back Tariq Mangrum runs the ball in Monday night’s game against the Colts at Memorial Stadium. The Raiders won the game 14-0 to advance to the semifinals of the 9-and 10-year-old playoffs. The Raiders will play the Bears on Thursday at 5 p.m. –Daniel Evans

Last week, the Colts defeated the Raiders 22-0 in the Selma City Parks and Recreation’s 9-and 10-year-old football league.

On Monday night, the Raiders returned the favor in the first round of the playoffs.

Joshua Palmer ran for 10-yard and 6-yard touchdowns to lead the Raiders to a 14-0 win and a meeting with the Bears on Thursday in the semifinals.

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“The only adjustment we really made was on defense. We took our line and instead of playing them tight, we spread them wide because everything they ran was to the left wide or the right wide,” said Raiders coach Alvin Barnett.

The Raiders offense was made up of mostly quarterback sneaks. The team’s first drive was nine plays, with Palmer running the ball right up the middle every single play.

After Palmer’s first rushing touchdown, the Raiders led 6-0.

On the first drive of the second half, the Raiders ran 21 plays while marching 65 yards to put the game away. Palmer ran the ball on 15 of those plays, including the 4-yard rushing touching to make it 14-0.

The drive took up over 18 minutes of the 20-minute second half and left the Colts without enough time to mount a serious drive.

“Exactly what we wanted to do, keep the ball out of their hands and score,” Barnett said.

The Colts offense was stuffed most of the night, managing only a few yards of offense the entire game.

The Colts season ended with the loss Monday night.

“As long as they give 100 percent, I’m happy — win, lose or draw,” said Colts head coach Leon Hudson.” At the end of the day, it’s not always about winning or losing, it’s about learning and how you play the game.”

The Raiders will play the Bears Thursday at Memorial Stadium at 5:45 p.m. The Bears had a first round bye.