By: Briana Smith

The Raider football team wore their pads, their jersey and the pride of the school on their backs. As the team endured chaos, they still remained headstrong and focused on the win.

Beating teams such as Mira Loma and Golden Sierra, the team was led by many of its starting senior players. On average, about seven of the eleven starters were seniors.

Although the men did not make it to playoffs, they went 2-3 in league. “My highlight of the league play was probably slaughtering Mira Loma in our homecoming game,” junior Cole Davey said.

The season was not an easy ride, as their former coach Christian Mahaffey was fired halfway through their season. The switch in leadership left the men with the responsibility to learn entirely new offensive and defensive plays.

Despite the changes, six players were named all league players at the end of the season.

New head coach Max Miller plans to return next year to coach the boys. With many championships under his belt he hopes to take Rio to a new level on the football field.

With fifteen graduating seniors on the team, the remaining twenty one juniors and sophomores plan to take over the team next season. Many of the offensive and defensive line being juniors gives them the upper hand next season’s play.

Junior Wes Plumley said, “Next year I hope that more students show up to the games and have the band play at all of the home games.” Hopefully for the Raider football team, their season will be a touchdown.