WEST POINT — Oak Hill couldn’t be denied on the ground against Carroll Academy.
Raiders running back Boston Cunningham led the charge in a rushing barrage with three first half rushing touchdowns in the first half of a 54-20 win in Oak Hill’s playoff opener.
“We have a lot of playmakers, and we said, ‘One of y’all have to step up,’ and I say Boston stepped up,” said Raiders coach Tom Goode. “It could have been him, it could have been Chantz, it could have been D.J., could have been Simon, (but) he stepped up and ran the ball tonight.”
Oak Hill scored first as Cunningham ran for a 28-yard touchdown, followed up by a successful 2-point conversion attempt by Cunningham on the Raiders opening drive to go up 8-0.
Oak Hill would keep their momentum going the next drive as running back Simon Reynolds would score a short rushing touchdown, followed up by a successful 2-conversion attempt by Cunningham to make it 16-0 Raiders.
An early second quarter 35-yard completion from Raiders quarterback Jackson Holton to wide receiver D.J. Gardner would set up another Cunningham rushing touchdown, followed up by a successful 2-point conversion attempt by Reynolds to go up 24-0.
A 42-yard rush from Cunningham would set himself up for a 3-yard rushing touchdown, giving him a hat trick of first-half touchdowns, followed up by a successful 2-point conversion attempt by Reynolds to go up 32-0 at the 6:03 mark in the second quarter.
Wide receiver Chantz Harris would be the next to score for the Raiders with a long rushing touchdown, followed up by a successful 2-point conversion attempt by Reynolds to make it a 40-0 ball game with 3:41 left to go in the second quarter.
Carroll would answer at the end of the first half with a deep touchdown pass from quarterback Collin Hurst to running back Cohen Blaylock and the PAT was good to make it a 40-7 game at halftime.
Oak Hill wouldn’t score again until the last play of the 3rd quarter when quarterback James Wamble scored off a 1-yard QB keeper. A missed PAT followed to make it a 46-7 Oak Hill lead.
Hurst and Blaylock would connect again for Carroll, this time on a 69-yard passing touchdown, followed up by a missed PAT to make the score 46-13 with 10:40 left in the 4th quarter.
Raiders running back Bryar Colvin would find the end zone on a rushing touchdown, followed up by a successful 2-point conversion from Wamble to make it 54-13 with 5:12 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Carroll would score the final touchdown with a deep passing touchdown from Hurst to tight end Hayes White, followed up by a made PAT to make it a 54-20 game with less than two minutes remaining.
“We have to get better next week,” said Raiders coach Tom Goode. “We played really well tonight, loved the effort. You know, every week we just preach effort from the first whistle to the last whistle, but we know we have to get better next week. I don’t know who we’re playing yet, but again we’ll be here at our house and be ready.”
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