On Saturday, the Raider football team took on the Allan Hancock Bulldogs for the final regular season game of the season, winning it 28-7.

The victory puts the Raiders at 5-5 on the season and an impressive 4-2 in conference play. The Raiders however, were not able to make it to a bowl game, as the committee decided not to place the Raiders in post-season play.

Head Coach Mike Stuart attributes the successful end of season run to all the players for never giving up and for buying into his weekly speech of going 1-0 each week.

“After that first win against Palomar, even though the next week we lost, we just had a better vibe out in practice,” said Stuart. “A lot of guys could have quit after losing the first four games like that, but they stuck around and they showed they’re a good football team.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Raiders found the end-zone first with a touchdown run from running back Isaiah Johnson. Moorpark held the 7-0 lead and went into halftime up by a touchdown.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs tied up the game when running back Bakari Davis scored on a 59-yard touchdown run.

The score stayed knotted up at seven until about halfway into the fourth quarter, when Raider quarterback Kado Brown scored from inside the 20-yard line to give his team the lead. The Raiders were up 14-7 and never looked back.

After a three and out from the Bulldogs, wide receiver KeiWuan Miller brought Griffin Stadium to their feet with an electrifying 70-yard touchdown reception from Brown. The Raiders extended their lead, 21-7.

With just under two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Raider running back Nick Loftin put an exclamation point on a great night for his team with an eight-yard touchdown run. Moorpark stretched their lead out to three touchdowns and would win with the score of 28-7.

The terrific defensive stand that the Raiders put up was due in part to defensive back Jalin Burrell. Burrell, a co-defensive captain, has made plays on the field all year and has been a motivating captain in the locker room with the defense, even when times were tough.

“We’ve always had confidence,” said Burrell. “We’ve preached every week, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, and its finally happened. We’re 4-0 now from week six, and all we want to do is keep pushing.”

It was the same kind of talk that sophomore offensive captain Miller had to preach to the offense. After Ventura’s loss, Stuart had a talk with all the captains, including Miller, telling them they couldn’t go on the way they were anymore.

“We really bought in to what Coach Stuart was saying to us,” said Miller. “I’m kind of a quiet guy and let my game do the talking because I’m not very vocal. But it seemed like we needed a vocal leader, so I started voicing my opinion saying ‘come on guys, let’s go, coaches know what they’re doing.'”

Despite not making it to a bowl game, Stuart is very excited to see all the freshman talent that will be returning next season.

“We have a lot of DB’s, obviously the running back, and quarterback situation, majority of the O-Line will return,” said Stuart. “It’s a good building block to add more guys. We’re gonna go out and recruit locally to get guys who will buy into this program.”

The Raiders will look to carry their momentum into next season with their top play-makers returning. A few of the offensive players returning on next years squad include: Brown, Johnson, receiver Aaron Lacombe, and linebacker Jordy Henrotin.