The Shaker Heights Red Raider Football team opened their 2018 seaon on the road at Shaw High School and came away with a solid 20-6 victory oburstver the Cardinals.
With both teams struggling to find a rhythm in a scoreless first quarter, the Raiders defense forced a Shaw fumble deep in Cardinal territory and Rasheen Ali plowed into the endzone from 3 yards out for the first points of the game. Carson Fowler tacked on the PAT for a 7-0 lead with 4:58 left in the half. After the Raider defense forced a 3 and out, it was Ali again finding paydirt, this time on a 34-yard burst. With Fowler's conversion the Raiders took a 14-0 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Cardinals were able to avert a shutout with a touchdown halfway through the 4th but Ali found the endzone for a 3rd time in the game on a 58-yard run to push the lead back out to 20-6 with 4:55 left in the game.
Cameron Jones and the Shaker defense took over from there as Jones collected a pair of interceptions in the final possessions and the swarming Raider defense closed out the game for the victory.
The Raiders will open their home portion of their schedule with a rare Friday home game this Friday as the will take on the Benedictine Bengals in a 5pm twilight start at Russell Rupp Stadium.