KANSAS — The offense was rolling for the Lakota Raiders on Friday night.
The Raiders piled up 502 yards of total offense — 268 of those in the air and 234 on the ground — on way
to a 26-0 opening-night victory over visiting Northwood.
Leading the attack for the Raiders was senior quarterback John Timmons, who threw for 268 yards and three
touchdowns. Tailback Jeremy Robbins ran for 167 yards, while Levi Peeler made six catches for 95 yards
and two touchdowns, as Lakota posted 324 total yards in the first half.
The 1-0 Raiders will host Elmwood next Friday, while the 0-1 Rangers will host Lake.
“That kind of balance in our offense is what makes us tough,” said Raiders coach Jim Kelly. “We can
spread the field with our receivers and then we have power guys in the backfield who make plays … all
of that clicked tonight.”
With the offense clicking, the Raiders’ defense went to work shutting down the Rangers, holding them to
just 277 yards of total offense.
Northwood got to other side of Lakota’s 30-yard line five different times, but fumbled the ball away
three times, and turned it over on downs another.
“Being able to shut out Northwood means a lot for us,” said Kelly “It shows we took a step forward and
means a lot for us pysche-wise. Last year we gave up 22 points to these guys in the first half and a lot
of rushing yards and I’m proud we were able to shut them down tonight.”
The teams battled to a scoreless first quarter before the Raiders started to take control in the second
12 minutes.
It was an eight-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter that would give the Raiders the early lead.
Timmons accounted for 54 yards through the air on the drive, including a 26-yard strike to Peeler for to
put Lakota up 6-0.
Timmons rolling out to right sideline was able to find the 6-foot target cutting uncovered across the end
zone for the first of two touchdown passes in the period. The other coming just 2:48 later with 4:23
left in the half on a 78-yard bomb to Roger Guerra, as the Raiders led 12-0 at halftime. Guerra finished
with four catches for 122 yards.
“That Timmons is a good football player,” said Rangers coach Ken James. “I was really impressed with him.
We hit him about every other play we could and he kept getting up.”
Timmons finished his night 15-for-26 on pass attempts. His counterparts — Erik Russell and Nick Russell —
combined to go 4-for-4 for just 49 yards.
“(Timmons) has been starting for us for three years now,” said Kelly “He understands our offense very
well and he makes plays — sometimes he misses some – but we’re human and not machines and he’ll fine
tune that as the season rolls on.”
Timmons and Peeler hooked up once again in the with 8:03 left in the fourth to give the Raiders an 18-0
lead, before Robbins ended the night’s scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run by the right sideline.
“Jeremy had a great game running the football and he’s very capable of having games like this all
season,” Kelly said. “He’s been a good running back since he’s been here, but he’s just had a tough time
getting on the field the last few years with the people we had in front of him.”
Lakota would rack up 17 first downs to just nine for Northwood, as seven different Rangers combined for a
total of 228 yards rushing.
“We just didn’t play well enough to win tonight,” said James. “Every big play just went in (Lakota’s)
favor, but we’re young and we just have to realize what it is we have to do to get better.”