After veering off course in the first half, the V.I. Raiders righted the ship and scored a 35-34 comeback victory over the Langley Rams at Nanaimo’s Caledonia Park Saturday.
Despite a 31-7 deficit, the Raiders outscored the Rams 28-3 in the fourth quarter to up their regular season record to 2-1.
Doug Hocking, Raiders head coach, said the team had to change things up to earn the win.
“We came in defensively and we understood some things that they were doing and having successes and we had to make some adjustments defensively,” said Hocking after the game. “We had to be more aggressive and challenge their receivers. We started doing that in the second half and in doing that, their quarterback had to hold the ball … which gave our D-line time to get some pressure on him.”
Offensively, Hocking said, the team stuck to its game plan. The Raiders needed to run the football and they were having success late in the first half. The team went back to that in the second half to keep Langley “offset,” Hocking said.
The defence was led by Cory Fletcher who made eight tackles, and Matthew Cox, who had four solo tackles and a fumble recovery. Connor Kyliuk had four tackles and a sack. Gevhahn McNally-Hardisty had an interception.
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