Raiders go to the air to beat St. Christopher’s 24-6 in a battle of ranked teams
Hooper Field, Roanoke, VA – North Cross Coach Priest and his staff knew this would be a challenging game. “All week long we preached – play fast and physical. Our guys played our style of football today.”
“We aren’t changing anything, just continuing to try and get better.” – North Cross Coach Dwayne Priest
That they did, in knocking off St. Christopher’s, ranked #4 in VISAA-Division 1, 24-6. The VISAA-Division 2 second ranked Raiders took to the air for most of their yards today with QB 11 Brock Miles throwing for 2 TDS and 252 yards on a 9/16 afternoon.
| North Cross | St. Christophers | |
| 1st Downs | 8 | 13 |
| Rushes/Yards | 21/64,TD | 40/86,TD |
| Passing – Yards | 9/16,252,2TD | 16/27,159 |
| Total Yards | 316 | 245 |
| Punt/ Avg yards | 1/31 yd avg | 2/30 yd avg |
| Penalties -Yards | 5/60 | 8/60 |
| Kicking | 1/1 FG, 30-yd FG, 3/3 PAT | 0/1 missed 34 yd FG, 0/1 PAT |
| Returns | 1/48 | 5/104 |
| Turnovers | 1 | – |
| Score | 24 | 6 |
The Senior spread the ball around with long touchdown throws of 60 and 43 yards to WR/RB/DB 1 Ja’Ziel Hart (2/88,TD rec; 4/11,TD rush) and WR/DB 13 Jase Rhodes (2/48,TD rec). Long completions to Hart and TE/DE/K 21 Daniel Skoog (2/81 rec) set up a Skoog 26-yard field goal and a 4-yard TD run, again by Hart.
As good as the Raider offense was, their defense may have been even better. Holding the Saints to six points, two touchdowns below their average this year, the Raiders only surrendered points half way through the 4th quarter.
North Cross took the opening drive and got the games first points on a 26-yard FG by Skoog. They added seven more on Hart’s 4-yard run in the second quarter. The home team added two more scores, one in the third quarter and the last in the fourth, before the Saints could score. North Cross’ defensive backs were tested all afternoon. Saints QB 7 Chase Roberts (16/27,159) tossed it 27 times, but never found the end zone through the air. RB 1 Michael Farley Jr. had 20 carries for only 37 yards and a TD. He also caught four passes for 31 yards. St. Chris was led on the ground by Co-captain RB/LB 33 Addison Gossline with 48 yards on 4 carries.
Offense:
Rushing –
North Cross – Ja’Ziel Hart 4/11,TD, Tristan Lange 7/32, Nate Bonds 5/12, Jase Rhodes 3/5, Brock Miles 2/4 St. Christophers – Michale Farley Jr. 20/37,TD, Addison Goosline 4/48, Chase Roberts 14/4, Jayden Brown 2/(-3)
Passing-
North Cross – Brock Miles 9/16,252,2TDs St. Christophers – Chase Roberts 16/27,159
Receiving-
North Cross – Ja’Ziel Hart 2/88,TD, Jase Rhodes 2/45,TD, David Skoog 2/81, Josiah Hines 3/38 St. Christophers – Jayden Brown 5/51, Addison Goodline 2/46, Michael Farley Jr. 4/31, J.J. Tidwell 2/17, Jaerron Johnson 3/14
Punting –
North Cross – Brock Miles 1/31 St. Christophers – Christian Rogers 2/30 yd avg
Returns –
North Cross – Jase Rhodes 1/48 St. Christophers – Addison Gossline 2/50, Bowan Ireland 1/25, Jaerron Johnson 1/23, Michael Farley Jr. 1/6
Scoring
1st Quarter:
NC 3-0 Daniel Skoog 30-yard Field Goal (9:08)
2nd Quarter:
NC 10-0 Ja’Ziel Hart 4-yard TD run; PAT Daniel Skoog (1:18)
3rd Quarter:
NC 17-0 Ja’Ziel Hart 60-yard TD catch from Brock Miles; PAT Daniel Skoog (1:28)
4th Quarter:
NC 24-0 Jase Rhodes 43-yard TD catch from Brock Miles; PAT Daniel Skoog (8:54)
ST C 28-6 Michael Farley Jr. 1-yard TD run; PAT missed (6:23)
The Raiders ground attack was highlighted by RB/LB 5 Tristan Lange with 32-yards on 7 carries. North Cross has now won six games in a row to move to 6-1 for the season. When Coach Priest was asked about the run he said, “We aren’t changing anything, just continuing to try and get better.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| North Cross | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
| St. Chris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |