CELTICS BEAT RAIDERS 35-13 HEAD FOR DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP

Bringing their season record to 8-1, the O'Hara Celtics football team headed into the District Championship game with the Saint Pius X Warriors on Friday at O'Hara. _____ Both teams are 2-0 in District play. _____ O'Hara easily got by the Pembroke Hill Raiders on October 23rd 35-13 in a game that had a slow first half. _____ O'Hara eventually had 367 total yards, 219 of which were rushing yardage. They held Pembroke Hill to 255 yards, 49 of which were through passing. _____ In their nine games, the Celtics lost only to Smith-Cotton by 8 points. In their eight wins, the Celtics won every game by 14 or more points and never scored less than three touchdowns in all the games. _____ Led by Raphael Spoencer's 20 touchdowns for 120 points, the Celtics have a total of 350 to their opponents' 152. _____ Nine individual players scored points for the Celtics in addition to a safety attributed to the defense. _____ T. J. White added to his school record for passing with nine completions, two for touchdowns. His career total is 205 completions for 4,073 yards. (His closest competitor has 126 completions for 1,869 yards: Joe Holder 1978). In 2008 White had 92 completions for 1,919 yards to set the school season record, in 2007 he had 60 completions for 3rd place and this year he now has 4th place with 53 completions and the season yet to be finished. (Ryan McNamara '98 is in second place with 77 completions for 1,377 yards). _____ Aaron Stubblefield caught three passes to pass head coach Jim DeMarea and take over 5th place for career receptions with 39. He also reached a tie for 9th place for season pass receptions with 21 catches. _____ Julian Gidley who only had one successful extra point conversion in the game with the Raiders, needs three more to tie for 15th place among the place kickers for a single season. _____ HOW THE TEAM FARED IN THE GAME WITH THE RAIDERS: The Raiders had first possession, but after three downs, had to punt. A fumble on the attempted punt return gave the ball back to ther Raiders. ____ With good field position, they advanced the ball to the 12 yard line where Andre Jordan intercepted for the Celtics. _____ O'Hara used up much time on the clock with their first possession and got the ball to midfield before punting. _____ The second quarter began with the two teams exchanging several punts until O'Hara took over on the 44 yard line to launch the first scoring of the game. _____ A 10 yard run by Raphael Spencer gave the Celtics a first down, A 20 yard pass from T. J. White to Joe Melchior netted another first down. Two five yard runs by Terrell Johnson and Brett Coatney resulted in the third first down. Louis Golden hauled in a 16 yard pass to set up a short plunge by Raphael Spencer for the score. T. J. White ran for the two point conversion. _____ O'Hara had a close 8-0 halftime lead. _____ At the start of the third quarter, O'Hara moved the ball to the 25 yard line where they lost possession with a fumble. _____ The Raiders only managed four yards on their next three plays and punted. _____ In four plays, O'Hara had their second touchdown of the game. A 15 yard pass to Aaron Stubblefield followed by a 36 yard TD pass to Louis Golden boosted the O'Hara leasd to 14-0. The Celtics completed a pass on the extra point attempt but could not advance the ball across the goal line. _____ The Raiders proceeded to sustain a scoring drive that overlapped the fourth quarter. They nearly failed to reach the end zone but gambled on a fourth down play on the 31 yard line with 25 yards needed to get a first down. Jacob Gerson completed the unlikely pass for the six pointer and Nathan Wagner added the extra point. At 14-7, it was as close as the Raiders could come. _____ O'Hara scored again taking only four plays. Louis Golden's 45 yard pass reception placed the ball within the 20 yard line, and Raphael Spencer carried the ball in for the points. Again T. J. White ran for a two-point conversion and a 22-7 O'Hara advantage. _____ On the Riaders' next series, they gambled again on a fourth down with a fake punt and succeeded in keeping their drive alive. A bit later though they gave up the ball on downs to the Celtics. _____ One play, one run, a 65 yard blast by Raphael Spencer, and O'Hara was adding another six points. Julian Gidley's extra point kick made it 29-7. _____ All the Raiders were able to do on the next three plays was to throw three incomplete passes and punt. ____ After T. J. White broke free for a 65 yard run to the end zone which was called back by a penalty, he ran for a 51 yard touchdown. O'Hara was ahead 35-7. _____ The Raiders did get a late TD that actually covered 93 yards in all. Using hurry-up plays without huddles, they managed to cross the goal line with a mere three seconds on the clock. Quarterback Jacon Gerson scored the short distance needed, but Marquelle Smith was kept from scoring the two-point conversion.