BELLE GLADE — The Glades Central Raiders, along with many teams in our area, had to do a bit of shuffling around Hurricane Dorian to play football this week. The Raiders moved up their home game against the Wellington Wolverines one day to Aug. 29 instead of Aug. 30.

Even with that shorter week of practice, both teams were able to put on a show for the hometown crowd at Effie C. Grear field.

The Raiders were able to pull off a thrilling overtime 27-24 victory against the Wolverines, and keep their record perfect at 2-0.

The game started with a little bit of rain, non-hurricane related rain, but still rain. The Wolverines were able to go up 3-0 after a field goal near the end of the first quarter shortly after the rain clouds lifted.

Glades Central wasn’t able to respond until three minutes were left in the second quarter when GCHS senior Desna Washington walked in for a touchdown to put the Raiders up 7-0. Two minutes later the Raiders scored again to go up 14-3.

But Wellington would come out in third quarter and put three back-to-back scores on the board to retake the lead for the first time since that early field goal in the first quarter. The Wolverines put two touchdowns and a safety on the board in the third quarter to retake the lead 18-14 after a botched two-point attempt.

Glades Central struck back with another touchdown with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter to make the score 21-18. The Raider defense was able to stand strong and keep the Wolverines out of the end zone on their ensuing offensive possession. Still, Wellington was able to put through a field goal to tie the game.

There was still some time for the Raiders to break the tie. With two minutes left in the game, GCHS senior quarterback Marion Moreland dropped back and hit senior Ja’vontae Williams for a 50-yard bomb into Wellington territory. But the Wolverine defense was stout, and kept the Raiders out of the end zone.

Wellington received the ball first in overtime and marched down the field to score a field goal and put the pressure on the Glades Central offense.
The Raiders answered, and then some.

Glades Central scored a touchdown on their ensuing drive to secure the victory and break the hearts of the Wolverine faithful who made the trip to Belle Glade.

Next the Raiders are tentatively scheduled to play Palm Beach Lakes in Belle Glade on Sept. 6. But that game may be postponed or canceled based on the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian. Keep an eye on the sports section of lakeokeechobeenews.com for any updates to that or any football game around the lake in the upcoming weeks.