Raiders Steamroll Steelmen 60-6 In Home Opener

 had its way with Joliet Central from wire-to-wire Friday, asserting its dominance early with intimidation and turning into points early and often.

The Raiders scored 60 first-half points en route to a 60-6 win against the Steelmen. improved its record to 3-0 after the 54-point rout.

Head coach John Ivlow said after shuffling some pieces around the roster, the team has begun to settle in after three games.

"We've had some concerns. We've had to shuffle a couple of guys around, but the guys are starting to find their home and they're doing a nice job at the positions they're in," Ivlow said.

executed flawlessly in nearly all facets of the game.

Joliet Central won the coin toss, but did not find itself on the winning end of much else during the game. The Raider defense did not allow a first down in the first half, bullying Joliet Central's ball carriers and punishing the Steelmen's offensive line.

The Raiders owned the first half on both sides of the ball as 's defense forced five turnovers, four punts and a safety.

"We were playing fast this game," said senior linebacker Antonio Morrison. "We wanted to come out, hit hard and show them we were going to be here for four quarters."

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders' offense scored on all but one possession.

"It's good getting off to a great start and getting on your opponent," junior quarterback Aaron Bailey said. "It was pretty good to get in a great spot and Chandler (Piekarski) was open and I just wanted to get him the ball."

The two juniors hooked up on a 35-yard touchdown pass on 's first play from scrimmage. Piekarski was playing in his first game after the .

For Bailey, it was the first of his two touchdown passes. He also tacked on a 54-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper.

After forcing a three-and-out, a 21-yard scamper by Bailey on a quarterback keeper helped set up the first of three touchdowns from senior D.J. Pruitt.

Pruitt's first score came on 20-yard touchdown run on an option play. His second score came on a 32-yard pitch-and-catch from Bailey on third down. Pruitt completed the hat trick with a punt return touchdown with 3:53 remaining in the second quarter.

Junior Omar Stover scored twice for the Raiders. While sophomore Jaden Huff and senior Darien Brown added rushing touchdowns of their own.

Sophomore running back Jaden Huff scored twice, Darien Brown scored and Omar Stover also scored in the first half.

The lone blemish for was a fourth quarter rushing touchdown for Joliet Central's Carlos Curry.

returns to the gridiron at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16 when it hosts Joliet West.

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