After starting the year 0 – 3, the Red Raiders won their third game straight Friday, earning an impressive 36 – 7 road victory against the Wolcott Eagles.
The Eagles had no answer for Derby’s junior quarterback Ray Kreiger and his abundance of wide receivers.
Kreiger (18 – 28, 289 yards, 4 TDs) and his comrades could not be stopped. Kreiger kept Wolcott off-balanced in this one, also rushing 9 times for 36 yards.
Derby capitalized off of Wolcott turnovers all night long. Big Red quickly turned those Wolcott turnovers into touchdowns.
“We won the turnover battle,” said Derby head coach George French. “That’s the important thing. We won the turnover battle and the first three weeks, we weren’t winning the turnover battle. Now we are, so that was a big key for us.”
With quarterback Dom Gambino sidelined due to a leg injury, Wolcott’s offense never got into any rhythm and had trouble scoring points against the aggressive Red Raider defense. It allowed Kreiger to get his offense in gear.
In the first quarter, Wolcott’s Nick Pastore was stripped and fumbled the ball. Derby’s Rich Bartone recovered at the Derby 43. That’s when the party started for the Raiders. Kreiger hit junior Jacob Tomczak (4 receptions, 117 yards, 2 TDs) late in the first quarter for 7 yards and the score. Derby led 6 – 0.
The Eagles responded with their own score – a 3‑yard run by running back DeVonte Bonvillian. The Eagles led 7 – 6. But that would be all she wrote, as the Derby defense began to lay some big hits on the Eagles and did not allow big plays.
After a successful fake punt by the Eagles in the second quarter, they coughed-up the ball again.
Derby’s Cecil Bost recovered the ball at the Derby 26 and the Big Red Machine got back to work. The Raiders culminated a 10-play drive, highlighted by a fourth-and-one 52-yard pass from Kreiger to senior Zach Salazar to set the Raiders up with a first-and-ten at the Wolcott 1 yard line. A Kreiger sneak from one yard out with 15 seconds remaining in the second quarter gave the Raiders a 12 – 7 advantage heading into halftime. They did not look back.
“We turned it on in the second half,” Coach French said of his team. “Raymond doesn’t sit on one guy.”
He sure didn’t.
Kreiger had an even bigger second half, connecting with various receivers. He led his offense into the end zone by going 5 – 7, 71 yards on the opening drive of the half – capped by a 5‑yard touchdown pass to Salazar. The game began to get out of reach for Wolcott, as Derby led 18 – 7.
“Coaches called great plays, my line executed well, and I was able to find my guys,” Kreiger said.
Tomczak would force Wolcott’s third fumble and Frank Corso recovered for Derby at midfield. Two plays later, Kreiger found Eddy Velazquez in the end zone from 30 yards out at the 5:55 mark of the third quarter to give Derby a commanding, 24 – 7 led over the Eagles.
Four minutes later, Kreiger hit Tomczak twice on a Derby 5‑play drive – for 23 yards and for a 42-yard touchdown down the Wolcott sideline to really put the game out-of-reach near the end of the third.
Derby was up, 30 – 7. Its defense forced another Wolcott turnover – an interception by junior Brian Dobek deep in Eagles’ territory, which led to Derby’s final touchdown of the contest – a 7‑yard scamper with 3:30 remaining in the contest by sophomore Dillon McMahon to give Derby its third-straight victory.
Derby (3 – 3, 3 – 0) is now in second place in the NVL Brass division.
The Raiders head into Jarvis Stadium next week to face their long-time Valley rivals, Montrell Dobbs and the undefeated Ansonia Chargers (6 – 0, 4 – 0). Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 29.
