B.C. Rain 40, RHS 28

Fourth quarter penalty call proves costly for Bears in Homecoming loss

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ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — B.C. Rain raided J.D. Sellars Stadium on Friday night, spoiling Robertsdale’s Homecoming while handing the Golden Bears their sixth loss of the season under first-year head coach Kyle Stanford by the score of 40-28.

A moment of elation turned to shock, disbelief and anger for the Golden Bear players, coaches and fans when a 47-yard fourth-down strike from senior quarterback Tristian Stevens to junior receiver Jack Kyte was called back because of a holding penalty call, resulting in a loss all the way back to the Red Raider 33.

On the next play, Stevens was intercepted by Larone Williams, who raced 60 yards for the score to turn what could have been a 35-32 lead for the Bears into a 38-28 lead for B.C. Rain with just over a minute to play. Quarterback Jakoby Fowler then hit Valdree Howard for a 2-point conversion.

The Golden Bears would not quit after a pooch kick gave them the ball in Red Raider territory at the 45 and Stevens hit Seth Allen on a pair of strikes for 14 yards each, running himself for 10 yards to drive all the way down to the B.C. Rain 7.

But Stevens was intercepted for the third time of the night in the Red Raider endzone and the Mobile County visitors were able to run out the clock with the final score 40-28.

The game went all Robertsdale’s way early when Logan Wilson took the opening kickoff and raced 85 yards for the score and Jayson Butts added the extra point to give the Bears a 7-0 lead.

After trading punts, the Red Raiders drove from the Bear 43 down to the 1-yard line, but Dominick Settles picked up a fumble in the backfield and raced 92 yards for the score with Butts adding the extra point to put Robertsdale up 14-0 on the last play of the first quarter.

It took B.C. Rain less than a minute to get on the board from there, returning the kickoff down inside the Golden Bear 30, scoring from a yard out three plays later. Settles then blocked the extra point attempt to leave the score at 14-6.

B.C. Rain scored again after a crazy sequence, which included a missed fieldgoal by the Bears, an interception by Robertsdale’s Jay Racine, followed by a fumble recovery by the Raiders’ Michael Jones, leaving the ball at the Bear 30.

Two plays later Fowler hit Howard for a 24-yard strike and then hit Corey Bonner for the 2-point conversion to tie the score with 3:47 to go in the half.

Robertsdale got the ball back and drove 63 yards, including a 40-yard run by Taven Curry, a 13-yard strike from Stevens to Kyte and a 16-yard touchdown run by Stevens. Butts’ PAT put the Bears up 21-14 with 1:07 to go in the half, but the Red Raiders returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards. Settles again blocked the extra point to leave the Bears with a one-point lead at the half.

The Raiders tacked on another score early in the second half, missing on a 2-point conversion attempt to go up 26-21, adding another score with just under 2 minutes to go in the third, failing again to convert to go up 32-21.

The Bears then drove 67 yards in five plays, capped by a 5-yard Curry run and long PAT by Butts after a penalty to cut the lead to 32-28 with 7:21 to play.

Stevens was 12 of 31 passing on the night for 155 yards with a touchdown run, while Curry added 105 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown in the contest for the Bears.

The Golden Bears (1-6, 1-4) will be on the road Friday night at Daphne, while the Red Raiders (2-5, 1-4) take a week off before traveling to St. Paul’s.