Racine Raiders dominate in MWUFL debut behind Carothers’ special-teams heroics

The Racine Raiders have a lot of new talent to show off this season, and one of them was particularly spectacular Saturday afternoon.

First-year defensive back and return specialist Trevion Carothers returned two punts for touchdowns to spark a special-teams onslaught and lead the Raiders to a 54-0 preseason victory over the Burlington Blue Devils at Don Dalton Stadium at Burlington High School.

Veteran Corey Dalton set the table for the Raiders by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown on Tony Romo Field in a game between teams in the Mid-West United Football League. It is the Raiders’ first game in the league following three years in the Gridiron Developmental Football League.

“He had a nice day out there,” Raiders coach Wilbert Kennedy said of Carothers, a Park High School graduate who played football for North Dakota State College of Science. “He’s an exciting young man. Teams are going to have some issues because of our return game.

“Having him back there along with Corey Dalton, pick your poison where you want to kick it.”

Special teams dominate early

Special teams were a big part of the equation, but there was a lot more going on for the Raiders. Along with the three returns, they scored on two running plays, one pass, one pick-six and two field goals. They only needed a two-point conversion, fumble return and safety to complete their bingo card.

Dalton was untouched as he took the opening kickoff 85 yards to the end zone. The excitement of that had barely begun to wear off when the Raiders forced a three-and-out by Burlington and Carothers took the punt back 61 yards for a score just over two minutes later.

Carothers admitted he actually forgot how the return was set up, but figured it out very quickly.

“Our call was to the right and I forgot all about the call when I caught the ball,” Carothers said. “So when I looked up, I saw all white jerseys. I looked to the right, I saw all black jerseys and I just went back to the right and got it done.”

His second return, of 63 yards, was a little tougher as he had to make a couple of cuts to avoid defenders, but he executed it well to score. He actually had another solid opportunity for another big return a little later, but he was told to go out of bounds to preserve the clock.

Veteran running back Tom Benko capped off the first-quarter scoring with a 2-yard run and it was 21-0.

There wasn’t much offense for either team in the second quarter, but kicker Brady Wodack made a pair of field goals in the final 2:15. His first was from 40 yards and the second, following an interception by Alex Hartmann, was from 28 yards as time ran out in the first half.

Wodack had an impressive day to round out the special teams, making 6 of 7 extra point attempts (from the NFL distance of 33 yards) and 2 of 3 field goal tries.

“You say it every time for every football game, you have to win two of the three phases, and special teams is a huge part of the game,” starting quarterback Sawyer Schick said. “That’s what we take pride in as a team. We’re going to have the best special teams out there.”

Special teams dominate early

The Blue Devils got the second-half kickoff, but fumbled on their fifth play from scrimmage to set the Raiders up at the 22-yard line. Rashawn Herron carried the ball to the Burlington 1, then punched it in two plays later and it was 33-0 after Wodack’s only miss. Herron led the Raiders with 61 yards rushing and Benko added 47.

The Blue Devils fumbled again on their next series and Geoffrey Mazur ran the ball to the Blue Devils’ 2. After two more running plays lost seven yards, second-string quarterback Gavin Gutman had to scramble, but found backup receiver Lavantis Lewis in the front corner of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass to make it 40-0 and trigger the running clock.

The Raiders rounded out their scoring with a 37-yard interception return by Elijah Meister late in the third quarter and Carothers’ second punt return midway through the fourth.

Kennedy was pleased overall, especially considering the new talent on the roster.

“It’s a preseason game and you’re just trying to see what you have and get guys looked at,” Kennedy said. “And it’s something new — you practice against each other and practice gets boring after a while. So it gives the guys an opportunity to get out there and play against somebody else at actual game speed.

“I saw a lot of good things and saw a lot of bad, but I liked the effort that the guys put out today. I thought our running game looked great. There were some things we saw that we have to definitely clean up that could cost us, but everything’s fixable.”

Defense shows promise despite lopsided score

The defense was led by a pair of linebackers. Veteran Gary Young Jr. had six solo tackles and eight total tackles, and first-year linebacker Gianni Scacco had three solos and seven total. Bruce Marshal Jr. and Winford Johnson had six tackles each.

Nate Harris, who was elevated from Burlington’s defensive coordinator to head coach this season, saw some bright spots, but knows there’s a learning curve.

“It’s a preseason game — everybody’s still learning,” Harris said. “It’s their first game and our first game, and we’re just getting it together.

“We had a few positive plays where guys were coming together and when they did come together, you saw the results of it. We had a few defensive stops and we moved the ball quite a few times. We didn’t get in the end zone, but we did move the ball.”

The Blue Devils had just 128 yards of total offense despite having an advantage in time of possession. Trevor York had 60 yards rushing and Drevion Thomas had six receptions for 54 yards.