Silver Creek celebrated its Homecoming with a 41-14 victory against Live Oak Saturday afternoon. In just their second game on their brand new field, the Raiders (3-3, 3-0 BVAL-ST) started it off with great defense and held the Acorns throughout the game.
Both teams came into this game undefeated in league, as Silver Creek has overcome an 0-3 start to the season with three straight league wins. Live Oak (5-1, 2-1) suffered its first defeat of the season despite leading 14-10 at the half.
"We're just trying to win one game at a time. Our strength butted heads with their strength," Silver Creek coach Chris Bolding said. "They’re very good at running the ball and we are very good at running defense. Those two things butted heads a little bit today.”
After yielding a 70-yard touchdown run to Live Oak star junior running back Trevor Bearden, the Raiders were able to keep him out of the end zone the rest of the game. In fact, after a three-yard touchdown run by Dante Spencer gave Live Oak a 14-10 halftime lead, Silver Creek outscored the Acorns 31-0 the rest of the way.
"We worked hard all four quarters," Silver Creek left tackle Joseph Herrera said. "This is the first time that happened. We worked as a team. Dedication was all we needed in order to win.”
Marcos Bueno scored three second-half touchdowns for the Raiders, including a 21-yard score that gave Silver Creek the lead for good at 17-14. Jonathan Curiel added a touchdown on a 30-yard fumble return to increase the lead to 24-14. Kicker Juan Cedillo, Jr., hit all five of his extra-point attempts and nailed two field goals, including a 41-yarder in the third quarter to make it 27-14.
“We worked hard but at the end of the day there are certain mistakes that we need to fix," Cedillo, Jr. said. "We did what we needed to do. The team is A-league material, especially Donavon Ramirez, Eric Troughton, Marcos Bueno, and Johnny Curiel.”
Bueno scored on fourth-quarter runs of 23 and 43 yards to conclude the scoring.
"I’m really proud of my guys. We played hard and we battled," Bolding said. "We had some trouble early in the game so we made some adjustments. They did a good job working with the adjustments and kept playing ball.”
The Raiders go on to play Westmont away Friday night while Live Oak hosts Lincoln for Homecoming.
“We weren’t disciplined today and they played a better game than we did so they beat us,” Live Oak coach Mike Gemo said.
