
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995                   TAG: 9511060106
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WADE KENDRICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RAIDERS RIP BIGGEST RIVAL CATHOLIC 28-6

Their records may not be as impressive as seasons past, but North Cross and Roanoke Catholic still take their cross-town football rivalry seriously.

North Cross, led by the slashing running of Carter Lee and James Kelly's blocked punt, cruised to a 28-6 victory Friday afternoon in a Virginia Independent Conference contest.

"We were prepared for this game," Lee said. "This game is definitely a big rivalry. A couple of their players were taunting us before the game. That made us want to go out there and destroy them."

The Raiders were dominant in nearly every aspect.

"They controlled the line of scrimmage. We couldn't block them and we couldn't tackle them," Catholic coach John Cooke said. "They did everything better than us."

The Raiders (3-6 overall, 3-1 VIC) got a big lift early in the first quarter when Kelly broke through the Catholic line and got a hand on Mark Buchy's punt. North Cross recovered at the Celtics 31, setting up Lee's 3-yard touchdown run.

North Cross tacked on two more scores in the first half on Joe Thielecke's 20-yard field goal and another 3-yard run by Lee, who rushed for 157 yards as the Raiders closed out their first losing season since 1972.

The Raiders' strong ground game kept the ball away from Catholic's potent offense, led by running back P.J. Moyer. Moyer rushed for 86 yards, including a 46-yard burst in the third quarter that provided the Celtics' only score, but the Raiders held Timesland's fifth-leading rusher to just 10 yards in the first half.

"We've been doing that all season," Kelly said of the Raiders' offense. "We wanted to keep the ball as much as possible because we knew they had a good offense with P.J. He's good.''

Steven Nicholas fired a 10-yard scoring pass to Mason Brown to give North Cross a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter. Aki Al-Zubaidi then fumbled the ensuing kickoff to set up the Raiders' final touchdown, Bradley Densmore's 3-yard run.

Even with the loss, Catholic (4-6, 1-3) still has a chance to make the private schools playoffs.

NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.

by CNB