Senior Lorenzo Arce recorded five catches for 42 yards and he carried the ball for a two-point conversion.
“Hunter Bell … kind of had a breakout game,” Heiderich said, referring to another senior athlete on the team. “It was his first night really running the ball at fullback.”
Bell had three carries for 21 yards and a touchdown while finishing with four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
“The whole defense, I’m going to shout them out,” Heiderich said, “because like I said, any time you put a goose egg on the scoreboard, it’s a good night.”
Whitehead, also a linebacker, led the team with 11 total tackles, including nine solo tackles; Webb, also a defensive back, had seven total tackles, including five solo; and Bell, also a defensive back, had six tackles, all solo, including one for loss.
Senior linebacker Grant Applewhite recovered two fumbles and sophomore defensive tackle Ethan Hatch caught an interception.
Reflecting Thursday night on playing his final game at Pillow Field, Webb said he was “very lucky and blessed, honestly, to play on this field with all my buddies, but I tried not to let myself get too down. I’ve got next week, trying to prepare, trying to stay focused for the state championship, and yeah, sir, just trying to keep my mind focused, but I would say it’s had a pretty good impact on me, just playing here one last time.”
As they focused on the rematch against Brunswick Academy in the state title game, Heiderich and Webb expressed a shared perspective that their victory against the Vikings on Oct. 24 should not have been so close.
“Last week we had a lot of opportunities where we had the game in the bag, and we really let it go,” Webb said. “That’s where we lost our minds, we just lost sight of what we were doing, we lost our focus. So we have to stay focused next week, really put everything together and play as a team, without individualism.”
Heiderich said: “Last week we gave up a lot of big plays, defensively, and that’s really what kept them in the game, and that’s kind of the goal going forward, is to stop the big plays and execute well on offense. We had a lot of mental errors on offense last week, and we’re just trying to cut those down.
“It’s an emotional game for our guys, it’s a rivalry game,” the coach added, “and sometimes when high school kids get emotional, you see these things come out, so we just have to get that straight, and I think we’ll have fun next Saturday.”
He reiterated that even though they played their final game of the season at home, the Raiders aren’t done yet.
“Our work is not done,” Heiderich said. “So I try to keep my eyes on the prize, and then in a year or 20 years we can look back and smile and enjoy all the memories we’ve made along the way.”
