Raiders Rolling into a Region Rematch in the Opening Round of the GHSA AAA Playoffs
The West Laurens Raiders (8-2, 6-2) head back to Braves Field 10 days later for Region 4-AAA rematch with the Baldwin Braves (6-4, 6-2)
DEXTER, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – In Dexter at Horseshoe Stadium where the Raiders, and third year head coach Kip Burdett, have blown away everyone’s expectations, except for their own. After going 3-17 in his first two seasons, battling injury and inexperience, this year’s West Laurens squad is finally healthy, and the Raiders are rolling.
In terms of numbers this season – the Raiders are averaging 33 points a game, while allowing an average of only 20 a match. That’s a far stretch from the 90 total points they scored in Coach Burdette’s first season.
Now, Coach is in a situation that he himself has never experienced, to face the same opponent twice in one season. Which is ironic, given the last game of the season for the Raiders was Election Day against Baldwin at Braves Field, where West Laurens came out on top 28-14.
“This is just a regular chess match, but it’s just a little bit closer together. This is the first time I’ve ever played a team twice in a year, much less in the span of ten days” said Coach Burdette Thursday afternoon at practice. “So, quick turnaround but we haven’t looked at another opponent since we played them last so, we’ll try to do a little bit better than we did last time.”
Across the board, stats on both sides, from both squads in that game were similar, but West Laurens grabbed two takeaways including an interception late to seal the win. Not to mention a return touchdown on special teams.
Seniors Daniel Lisbey and Robert ‘Big Rob’ Gonzales look to be physical on offense once again, as the Raiders hope to perform well on all three sides of the ball once more to get a repeat road victory, and advance to the second round.
“Man, it’s been great! I heard someone else say before, it’s just felt like a dream this whole season” said Lisbey. “Its been a great turnaround, and I’ve just loved every step we have taken. We know its playoff season now, so they are going to come out hot. They got more motivation this time. I honestly believe we are the better team so, we just got to execute out there, and we are going to beat them again.”
“It feels amazing! Coming off them two bad seasons, and then to come back and turn it around, everybody is hype” said Big Rob Thursday. “Nobody really had their head down. Everybody had their head up. They were expecting big things from this season.”
Coach Burdette went on to speak on his journey to get to this point in his third season leading the West Laurens Football Program. “Kind of went really young my first year and we saw some progression through year two” said Coach Burdette Thursday. “A lot of things were better but we had some major injuries that I felt like it put a damper on the season early on and it kind of derailed us a little bit. You saw the progress coming in year two, even though the record didn’t quite say what you wanted it to say, you felt like the improvement was coming, and it felt like the progression was coming. Credit to these kids. They never doubted or wavered. Now its year three, a lot of these kids have played a lot of ball, and they keep doing the same things over and over again, and things start to happen. Now, the expectation is to win. The biggest thing is we try to do things the right way, and not sacrifice for a couple wins here and there. We really wanted to progress and build things organically from the ground up. So, really pleased with what we’ve done this year.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Braves Field.
Catch live pregame coverage during 41NBC News at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. Don’t miss highlights from our Game of the Week, and others, on this Friday’s edition of The End Zone during 41NBC News at 11.
