Running back Cole Huckaby galloped his way to a 26 carry, 210-yard rushing performance with two touchdowns in Auburn Riverside’s opener Saturday at Auburn Memorial Stadium.
Huckaby’s performance wasn’t enough to lift the Ravens past Marysville-Getchell however, with the Chargers coming out on top 25-21 in non-league action.
Marysville-Getchell made up a 14-3 deficit after three quarters, scoring 22 points in the fourth and cementing the win with quarterback Vincent Tynan finding Taylor Kollemer for a touchdown with just 20 seconds on the clock.
“We didn’t finish and execute,” Raven Coach Bryant Thomas said. “We had some key injuries to our defense that put some young kids in the game. That made it tough. But my kids played their hearts out. They played hard they gave it all all the way to the last play of the game. But that’s how it turns out sometimes.”
After a scoreless first quarter the Chargers opened scoring in the contest with a 37-yard field goal by kicker Devon Green 1 minute, 26 seconds into the second quarter.
Auburn Riverside jumped out to a 14-3 lead before the half with Huckaby scoring twice on the ground, once from 12 yards and once from 6 yards.
After a scoreless third quarter the Chargers put up the first points of the half with Collin Montez running one in from 21 yards out, putting his team within three points at 14-11. Montez would finish the contest with 28 carries for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Kollemer hooked up with Justin Cook for the two-point conversion.
Huckaby added his third touchdown of the contest for Auburn Riverside with an 83-yard kickoff return with 9:52 left in the contest.
The final moments of the game were all Marysville-Getchell, however with Montez scoring a 5-yard rushing TD and Kollemer and Tynan putting the game away 25-21.
The Chargers would finish the game with 281 yards of total offense, 237 rushing and 44 in the air.
The Ravens added 316 yards offense with 277 rushing and 39 passing.
Quarterback Kyle Suttrick finished the game with 3-of-15 passing for 28 yards and was sacked twice.
Suttrick also had 48 yards on the ground with 11 carries.
Dennis Beard had one reception for 39 yards.
The Auburn Riverside offense turned the ball over four times, with the Chargers recovering all four.
Kolten Rosin had an interception for the Ravens with an 18 yard return.
Adrian Hollinsworth had two fumbles for loss with Vinny Le, Huckaby and Gerardo Cisneros each adding one.
Thomas said he and the team were taking the non-league loss as a learning experience.
“I felt like we played the pass well,” Thomas said. “They didn’t pass much, but when they did they didn’t pass well tonight. I felt like we competed well. We just have to keep competing on this level and we’ll stay in games.
“The biggest difference this year is that we’re young,” he added. “There are a lot of guys that haven’t played before and they make mistakes. You have to learn to live with the mistakes and coach them up. Last year we had veteran guys who had played a lot and knew what it took to pull out a game like this. Youth did this, but we’ll live and learn and do better next time.”
