Rummel handles Northwood to advance to regional round

Get used to it.

In baseball, Archbishop Rummel made consecutive trips to Shreveport, defeating Captain Shreve and Northwood in consecutive playoff series victories to advance to the state championship game, a 1-0 loss to Jesuit.

It was an outstanding run and the long trips and budget killers to the Shreveport area were worth it.

The Raiders are hoping history repeats itself in football, against the same teams, making the same long road trips.

The first leg of the journey is complete.

Jaidyn Martin rushed for three touchdowns and Chris Wallace booted a pair of field goals to lead Rummel to a 34-14 victory over Northwood Friday night in the Select Division I playoffs.

Carlin Kinchen put Rummel on top to stay early in the first quarter, picking off a pass on the third play of the game and he returned it seven yards for a score to give Rummel a 7-0 lead.

Martin scored his first touchdown, a 3-yard run to put the Raiders up 14-0 and Wallace kicked his first field goal, from 25-yards out, to make it 17-0 in the second quarter.

Kyron Johnson scored on a 3-yard run to cut the deficit to 17-7 but Wallace added a 33-yard field go to make it 20-7 at halftime.

Martin scored two more touchdowns in the second half, including a brilliant 66-yard run and an 11-yard score to put the game away for Rummel. Martin rushed 17 times for 213 yards and three touchdowns.

Northwood scored with just over a minute left to account for the final score.

On The Three Tailgaters Show Saturday morning on NASH ICON 106.1 FM, Rummel coach Nick Monica said he didn’t mind making the long trip and does not mind making another long trip.

“It was like the old days to get on the road and play someone different,” Monica said. “We have not been a fast-starting team and to get a score on the third play of the game and then see our offense go down and score was big for us.”

Star safety and Stanford commit Darrius Davis played for the first time since tearing an ACL in basketball eight months ago. It was a huge lift for the Raiders.

“Darrius played 17 snaps and he makes a tackle on the second play of the game,” Monica said. “It reminded us of how good an athlete he is and how special a person he is a true leader of our team.”

The Raiders (5-6) make the return trip to northwest Louisiana to take on No. 2 seed Captain Shreve next Friday night at Independence Stadium, hoping to accomplish what the Raiders baseball team did in May, even if it hits the football budget hard again.

“I wouldn’t mind history repeating itself with what our baseball team did,” Monica said. “It’s going to be tough. We watched Captain Shreve on the way home last night. They can score as much as anyone. They are very good. We will have to control the ball, our running game will have to be good.”