RAVENSWOOD - It took a little longer than veteran head coach Dick Sturm wanted, but once Ravenswood found the end zone it didn't stop as the Red Devils dispatched of visiting Herbert Hoover by a 35-18 score Friday night at Flinn Field.
Ravenswood, which lost to Magnolia in the Class AA state championship game last December, fell behind by a 3-0 score when the Huskies Joseph Forbes made good on a 19-yard field goal with 3:50 left in the first quarter.
The Huskies took advantage of the first of two first half fumbles by the Red Devils to put together a 17-play, 62-yard drive which culminated in Forbes' boot.
Ravenswood, which plays at Poca next Friday night, continued to struggle offensively until the sixth possession of the first half. The Red Devils took over on their own 28-yard line following an 11-yard punt return by senior Jeremy Lawrence.
Senior quarterback Dustin Derito, who completed 9-of-14 attempts for 132 yards and a pair of touchdowns, dropped back and found a wide open Kyle Griffith on the home sideline. The senior tight end broke a pair of would-be tacklers-the last one at the Hoover 15-to finally get the red and black into the end zone with 2:46 remaining in the first half.
It wouldn't be the last time, however.
Ravenswood's defense, which held the Huskies to 117 yards on 37 carries, got the ball back with 1:57 showing on the clock and the Red Devils used a little trickery to get its second touchdown of the season.
Facing a second-and-9 from their own 41, Derito pitched the football to freshman Rhys Jelich, who then threw a perfect strike to senior Kurt Schindler, who carried to football down to the Huskies' seven before being knocked out of bounds.
Three plays later Derito hit his freshman running back-Jelich-at the in the end zone to make the score 13-3 with 35.9 seconds left until the intermission. Senior Brandon Cunningham came on to record the second of his five PATs on the night and Ravenswood went to the lockerrooms leading by 11, 14-3.
The hosts were far from finished.
A 17-yard run by Lawrence, who led all rushers with 129 yards on 23 carries, at the 8:19 mark and a Cunningham PAT upped the margin to 21-3 before a 75-yard return of a blocked field goal by the Huskies' Zach Mullins and a 2-point conversion pass from Carter Coleman to Tristan Fields sliced the deficit to 11, 21-11, with 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
That would be as close as the visitors would get as Lawrence returned an interception 52-yards for a touchdown and Derito added an 8-yard scamper for six points to offset an 8-yard scoring run by the Huskies' Coleman.
