varsity.roanoke.com

The points that were scored Saturday at North Cross in the Raiders' homecoming football game with Atlantic Shores Christian came as a result of big plays.

North Cross, however, emerged a 21-14 winner over the Seahawks as a result of the little things -- namely, the play of its red-zone defense.

On four different occasions, the Seahawks (3-4) moved the football inside the Raiders' 20. Those four series resulted in no points.

And we're not talking about drives that stalled around the 20. Atlantic Shores ran nine plays from the North Cross 6-yard line or closer, and failed to score every time.

"The defense was great," senior Tyler Caveness said. "For us to keep them out of the end zone as many times as we did was awesome. The defense won this game for us."

Lineman Dillon Meacham agreed.

"When you get down there [in the red zone], you have to [gut] up or shut up," Meacham said. "On every one of those plays, we just tried to get the first push on the line so they couldn't make a run at the goal line. This is a great way to win. I wouldn't want it any other way."

With the short-yardage plays being stopped, the deciding factor was who came up with the most big plays.

North Cross (6-1) struck first with a 38-yard TD pass from Fuller Clark to Bryan Miller on its opening drive. The Raiders added another first-half TD pass from Clark to Brandon Trent of 21 yards.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks managed a 68-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Bailey to Anthony Williams in between the two scores, and at the half, North Cross led 14-6.

But while Bailey finished the game with 304 passing yards and had two receivers end up with more than 100 receiving yards apiece, the Seahawks' first-quarter TD was the only score the offense produced.

The combination of untimely penalties and seven turnovers assured the Raiders of keeping the upper hand all day long.

"We come into every game thinking that we're the kind of team that's going to win because of defense," North Cross coach Lee Johnson said. "We might give a team 600 yards of passing, but you're not going to run on us."

North Cross got stops in a variety of ways. The Raiders came up with an interception in the end zone, forced Atlantic Shores to settle for a field goal (which ended up being botched because of a high snap), a goal-line stand, and a fumble recovery.

"The [defensive] has been doing it for us all year," linebacker Devin Cain said. "You might gain some yards on us during the game, but we'll keep you out of the end zone."

Added lineman Jamaul Allen: "We were just trying to make the big stop."

After one of those stands early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders -- deep in their own territory -- got a much-needed insurance score when Caveness caught the Seahawks' weak-side defense out of position and sprinted 96 yards for his team's final TD of the day.

"I just spun away and it was open," Caveness said. "Once I got to the open field, I was just keeping an eye on [the safety]. I saw him take the angle, so I just did what I could to make it difficult for him."

Atlantic Shores 6 0 0 8--14

North Cross 7 7 7 0--21

NC -- Miller 38 pass from Clark (Lacy kick)

AS -- Williams 68 pass from Bailey (kick blocked)

NC -- Trent 21 pass from Clark (Lacky kick)

NC -- Caveness 96 run (Lacy kick)

AS -- Reid recovers fumble in end zone (Sargent pass from Bailey).

AS NC

First downs 9 15

Yards rushing 81 247

Passes C-A-I 12-29-3 7-8-2

Yards passing 304 131

Penalties-yards 8-73 3-25

Fumbles-lost 3-2 4-4

Punts-average 2-40 3-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- Atlantic Shores, Bailey 13-56, Hall 3-17, Williams 1-8, Reid 2-2, O'Malley 1-(minus-5). North Cross, Caveness 16-153, Martin 17-78, Clark 11-17, Allen 1-0, Team 1-(minus-1).

PASSING -- Atlantic Shores, Bailey 12-29-3-304. North Cross, Clark 7-18-2-131.

RECEIVING -- Atlantic Shores, Williams 5-124, Edwards 4-129, Reid 2-9, Sargent 1-42. North Cross, Miller 2-40, Trent 2-35, Shaff 1-33, Martin 1-22, Lacy 1-1.