Raiders Defeat Swashbucklers, Earn Home Playoff Game
June 15, 2013 - Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)
Richmond Raiders News Release
The Raiders dominated the fourth quarter, running off 22 straight points to break a 39-all tie, and beat the Louisiana Swashbucklers 61-45 to clinch a berth in the PIFL playoffs for the second straight year.
RoShawn Marshall had an interception and a 39 yard fumble return for a touchdown. His TD gave the Raiders a two-touchdown margin and was the second of three straight stops in the decisive stretch.
The teams traded blows for the first 25 minutes of the game, going touchdown for touchdown and uno for uno. Brandon Grier gave the Raiders a 29-22 lead with a seven yard reception, but as the Swashbucklers tried to tie the game for the fourth straight time, Marshall picked off Chris Mitchell to set the Raiders up at Louisiana's four yard line. Herb Jones scored three plays later to give the Raiders a two touchdown lead.
Mitchell drove the Swashbucklers inside the Raiders' 10 as the one minute warning hit, then was stopped on a third down run at the one yard line. The "ÃËBucs called timeout with 34 seconds left "" rather than letting most of the time expire before their fourth down play. They did get a touchdown but left the Raiders 31 seconds to work with. They used that time to get a field goal and take a 10 point lead into the intermission.
The Swashbucklers dominated the third quarter, getting a touchdown to open the period and a Kenny Kitchen interception. They drove to the Raiders' six yard line but were forced to settle for a tie by kicking a field goal. The Raiders righted the ship as the fourth quarter began when Warren Smith threw a 23 yard dart to Hakeem Moore to give them the lead and set up Marshall's pivotal fumble return.
After Marshall's score put the Raiders up by 14, the "ÃËBucs again decided to kick a field goal with six minutes to play. Ernesto Lacayo's attempt sailed wide right, and the Raiders iced the game with less than two minutes to play when Warren Smith barged into the end zone on a two yard run.
Smith threw for five scores and ran for two. He had 291 passing yards to give him a Raiders single season record 3,022 on a record 245 completions. Moore and Jones each went over 1,000 yards receiving with Moore getting a team record 1175. T.C. Stevens was perfect on 8 extra points and his only field goal attempt and added two unos.
The Raiders finish the regular season 7-5, and thanks to the Lehigh Valley SteelHawks' win in Albany, the Raiders will get the second seed in the PIFL playoffs by virtue of the tiebreaker. They will host Lehigh Valley in a semifinal on July 1 at 7:00 pm. Tickets will be available starting Monday via the Raiders' website and the Raiders' ticket hotline, 804-780-0430 and 1- 855-GO-RAIDERS.
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