The Rider Raiders will look to defend their home field on Friday against the Lubbock Westerners at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Rider has four straight victories, Lubbock has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Rider stacked a seventh blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They blew past Plainview 49-16 on the road. 49 seems to be a good number for Rider as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Rider's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tyrone Morgan led the charge by picking up 178 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Morgan was no stranger to the big play, cutting upfield for a catch that went for 63 yards. Another player making a difference was Joe Castles, who threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns while completing 87.5% of his passes.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 61-7, which was the final score in Lubbock's tilt against Cooper on Thursday. Lubbock was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 41-7.
Rider's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their overall record up to 7-2. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 40.8 points per game. As for Lubbock, their loss dropped their record down to 2-7.
Everything came up roses for Rider against Lubbock in their previous meeting back in November of 2022 as the team secured a 57-0 victory. Does Rider have another victory up their sleeve, or will Lubbock turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
