D IV Championship showdown - Lebanon overcomes 14-0 deficit to stay perfect and win their first ever State Championship 24-14. Congratulations to your new D IV CHAMPION Lebanon RAIDERS!

The sign read Barker, Patch, Drew, our Trinity. Next to it was another that said Welcome to RAIDER NATION. Well, it took a while for the Lebanon Trinity to get going but when they did, they did it in style, as the Raiders defeated the visiting Pioneers in convincing fashion, in front of a thousand plus strong, Raider Nation presence. But it didn't look very promising at the get go.

Trinity got off the bus, and got off quick. They opened with the ball and proceeded to march 60+ yards down the field in convincing fashion. Capped by a 2 yard Rob Hoaglund TD as he pounded up the middle. A failed 2 pt conversion left the Pioneers up 6-0 with 6+ minutes left in the 1st quarter. The Raiders then received the ball and despite a nice 12 yard pass and catch from Roth to Micah Morton were forced to punt around midfield. The Pioneers then proceeded to methodically pound the ball with Hughes, Chambers and Hoaglund sharing carries throughout. Ending with a 3 yard plunge by big Josh Hughes for the TD. The 2 point conversion was converted with a sweep off the left side by Adam Chambers. Trinity up 14 - 0. The Trinity cowbells were clanging and their crowd was roaring. But that was the end of the scoring for the visiting Trinity Pioneers.

Taylor Sanborn grabbed the ensuing (squibbed) kickoff and plowed into the careening Pioneers giving the Raiders excellent field position at midfield with 5 minutes to go in the half. The Raiders then shuffled carries to Chis Barker and Cody Patch including a nice 25 yard scamper through the middle by Barker, who might have scored were it not for a TD saving tackle by Pioneer LB Andrew Lauderdale. Raider ball inside the Trinity 5 yard line. After a couple attempts at pounding it in, Barker then put the Raiders on the board on a sweep from 2 yards out. Justin Judd's PAT put the Raiders on the board 14-7.

Trinity had a nice little drive going before the half, however, the Lebanon D was able to tighten up and force a 4th down punt pinning them deep inside the 5 yard line. They took a knee to end the half. It was never close after that.

The second half was entirely the Raiders. Lebanon started with the ball and after a short gainer and a monster stuff by Josh Hughes as Barker tried moving off Tackle, Roth connected with Micah Morton again on 3rd and long to convert the 1st down. Patch then had 3 successive carries chewing up 18 yards. Roth then connected with Cody Pelletier on a 10 yard pass to keep the drive moving. On the very next play, Patch found a hole up the middle and barrelled 7 yards into sprinting Pioneer safety Romeo Masuku and an epic collision. As both players continued to chug the rest of the teams picked a side and a scrum ensued, pushing the ball a further 5 yards down the field.

On the very next play the Raiders caught the Pioneer D sleeping and gave the ball to FB Dylan Drew (his first carry of many on the day) who pounded the ball 12 yards down field inside the Trinity 10. 2 Plays later Patch skirted through the interior of the Defense diving into the end zone for the TD. Judd's PAT good, 14-14.

The Pioneers took over on the Raider 35 yard line. On their first play from scrimmage in the second half Chambers got the pitch and was absolutely leveled by LB Dylan Drew for a 5 yard loss. 2nd play from scrimmage, DL Alexander Morril met Hughes as he was getting the handoff and dropped him for a 2 yard loss. 3rd play resulted in Goldstien's first pass attempt of the game sailed over the head of Chambers. 4th and forever from their own 28 the Pioneers lined up for their second punt of the game. As the ball was snapped Chris Barker and Mark Davidson fired off the line and Davidson soared through the air blocking the punt of Trinity kicker Carmen Giampetruzzi. Phil Hwang recovers the ball on the Pioneer 6 yard line. On the next play Patch dove into the endzone with Chambers on his back to put the Raiders ahead for good. PAT good 21-14 Raiders and Raider Nation was rocking.

Masuku took the kickoff 20 yards out to the Pioneer 30 yard line for decent field position, but they would not answer. A slew of Raiders led by Roth, Morril, Geno and Henry stocked up the line collapsed on Hughes at the line of scrimmage. Morril went solo on the next play and smothered Hughes for a 2 yard loss. Chris Henry then came barreling in from D End to swat Goldstein's 3rd down pass attempt. Time running down, but Trinity pinned deep in their own end had to punt.

The Raiders took over at their own 45 yard line. They went back to Drew again who went untouched and was finally brought down 13 yards later by Masuku. A couple runs by Patch and Roth kept the drive going as the Raiders plowed into Pioneer territory again. The Raiders then went for it on 4 th and short and Pioneer End Tristian Theroux came up big with a 4th down tackle as Patch attempted to shoot off tackle. Pioneer ball on their own 35 yard line 8 minutes to go in 4th quarter.

Hoaglund then drove around the edge for a 5 yard gainer. On the second play Hughes was met by Drew at the line of scrimmage for no gain. Chambers was then stacked up by Henry, Patch and Geno forcing 4th and long and a Nice punt. It looked as though Chris Barker was on the sideline at this point with a stomach issue of some kind and was replaced by Judd.

Raider ball at their own 20 time ticking down. Pioneers needed a stop. Patch 2 yard gain, Drew 2 yard gain and then a back breaker. Facing 3rd and long, Roth (who did not throw an incompletion this day) connected with Judd over the middle for a 25 yard pass and a Raider 1 st down. Then it was Patch 10 yards, Drew 5 yards, Patch twice for 5 yards a pop, Drew twice for 3 yards a pop, driving deep into Trinity territory. This continued, Patch, Drew, and so on until 1st and goal. The Trinity D would not surrender though. Lauderdale met Patch off tackle on first down and Theroux made a TD saving tackle on Drew forcing a Field goal attempt. Judd was perfect on the day, including the game sealing Field goal with under 3 minutes to go. Raiders up 24-14.

On their next possession the Pioneers attempted two passes both incomplete. Hughes took it up the middle for a short gainer, and Mark Davidson left no doubt about the Raider's victory by dropping Goldstein with a sack on 4th down, allowing the Raiders to take a knee and with it, their first ever D IV Championship and perfect 11-0 season.

NOTES: Patch rushed for 2 TDs and over 100 yards again this game. Drew, Morril, Davidson, all had huge games defensively. In fact the second half the Raider Defense was simply suffocating allowing Trinity maybe 10 yards of offense. Roth did not throw an incomplete pass the entire game. Every pass (and they were all 3rd and long) was complete and they were great catches (Morton, Judd, and Pelletier).

Josh Hughes, Rob Hoaglund, and Chambers all had great 1st halves running the ball. Hughes was a force in the first half led by that monster Trinity line. Throughout the day Masuku, Hughes and Theroux were making plays, in fact for his part Masuku had (from my vantage piont) MANY TD saving tackles, the kid was simply everywhere and played his tail off. Congratulations on a wonderful season Trinity!

Congratulations to your new D IV Champion Lebanon Raiders, you finished your dream season in style!