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Ravenwood football uses 2017 loss as motivation in TSSAA second-round win over Cane Ridge

Darren Reese
For the Tennessean
17. Ravenwood (9-2) beat Cane Ridge, 43-36.

Ravenwood senior William Baine hasn't forgotten the feeling of what happened last year. 

Cane Ridge used a 72-yard kickoff return with two minutes remaining to end the Raptors’ 2017 season in the quarterfinals.

“We knew we didn’t want to go out with that same feeling that our seniors last year had,” Baine said.

And they didn’t.

Ravenwood avenged that loss on Friday, storming back from a 15-point, second-half deficit to down the previously undefeated Ravens 43-36 in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

The deciding play came with five seconds left as Brian Garcia hit Andrew Mason in the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown. That capped a spurt in which the Raptors (9-2) scored five touchdowns in the final 15:23.

“Before the play, Brian gave me that look and I appreciate him coming to me,” said Mason, who had three touchdown catches. “Last year’s game has been kind of motivating for us all week.  We didn’t want it to end like it did last year.”

Ravenwood plays at rival Brentwood (10-2) on Friday in a Class 6A quarterfinal.

The Raptors had two weeks to recall last year’s season-ending loss on the same field.  They received a first-round bye in this year’s playoffs after Overton was banned over a postgame brawl following its regular-season finale against Antioch.

The Raptors fell behind 22-7 midway through the third quarter. 

But it was a talk from two juniors — Gabriel Sleenhof and Graham Barton — that helped coach Matt Daniels and the offense get headed in the right direction.

“Those two, along with Brian Garcia, came up to me and said, ‘Coach, we need to pound the ball and pick up tempo,'” Daniels said.  “We need to run that two-minute offense the entire second half.  That’s exactly what we did.”

“When I’ve got two 6-foot-4, 240 pound guys telling me they want to pound the ball and go up-tempo, I’m going to listen.”

All of the Raptors’ second-half scoring drives took less than three minutes. 

Garcia finished with five touchdown passes and added another score on the ground.  Baine tallied 211 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. Tony Rice carried the ball 10 times for 107 yards.

Cane Ridge’s Mr. Football semifinalist Devon Starling rushed for 159 yards on 24 carries and  eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark on the ground for the second consecutive season.

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