An inconsistent Derby squad fell to St. Paul Catholic by a score of 35 – 18 Saturday afternoon.
The Red Raiders’ (0 – 1) offense was largely a non-factor in the first half, with junior quarterback Ray Krieger having to be on the run from would-be tacklers.
Krieger had a tough day on the field, despite scoring two touchdowns.
He scored a third quarter touchdown on a keeper play from four yards out and also connected with senior tight end Zach Salazar for 29 yards with 8:29 left in the game.
St. Paul (1 – 0) junior quarterback Tucker Bachand also had a successful day, including throwing a 58-yard touchdown to David Shaw a couple minutes into the fourth.
Falcons’ workhorse De V’anti Gardner had a big day leading St. Paul’s to victory.
He scored two touchdowns, including a one yard touchdown late in the first quarter, and a monster 60-yard dash while hugging the left sideline, to put an exclamation point on the game.
The Red Raiders were not done, as they got a consolation score with 7:45 left in the game.
Junior Rashawn Hendricks bolted for a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give Derby hope, but when they got the ball back there was too little time on the clock. Krieger threw an interception with seven seconds left.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do before we get going,” said George French, the Derby coach, who made his debut for the Red Raiders Saturday. “The kids played hard. They have a long way to go but we saw a lot of good things and saw a lot of bad things we need to fix.”
The Derby defense looked strong for much of the game, but had some bad lapses that cost the Red Raiders some golden opportunities to change the momentum in their favor.
“We had some moments where defensively we looked good, but we had periods where we looked bad,” French said.
Derby went into the second half trailing 21 – 0, but the Red Raiders showed some life.
Senior Jonathon Haydu intercepted a Bachand pass, and Derby nearly scored on the drive, only to have it marred by penalties.
“Jonny Haydu made a big interception for us. That was momentum we needed. We needed something like this to start us off,” French said. “He did what he was supposed to do.”
Regarding the defensive display by the Red Raiders, French said, “We made some adjustments. We put some personnel in that we thought was better for what they were doing. They came up and made some plays.”
St. Paul opened the scoring when Bachand hit receiver Justin Gonzalez on first and goal for the early score.
Derby will be home next week when they play Sacred Heart on Friday at 7 p.m.
