Rayders resilient despite loss to Frankfort

CHARLEVOIX — Close, but not close enough.

That’s the feeling surrounding Charlevoix’s 20-12 loss to Frankfort on Friday.

The Rayders fell behind early and were down by as much as three scores, yet battled back late, but weren’t able to muster enough points down the stretch to complete the comeback.

Losing Friday’s game dropped Charlevoix to 1-4 on the season for the second consecutive year, all but putting the nail in the team’s playoff hopes.

“It was a tough game,” said Charlevoix coach Kenny Provost. “It didn’t start off very well for us. We started a little slow and made mistakes early and it was a little bit too much to crawl out of.”

Frankfort wasted little time pulling ahead as the Panthers scored a touchdown in both the first and second quarters to take a 14-0 lead into halftime.

The Panthers seemingly put the game out of reach with a score in the third to push their lead to 20-0, but the Rayders answered with the play of their star junior running back Alan Ritter.

Ritter first muscled his way into the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and then broke free for a 43-yard touchdown to cut the Rayders’ deficit to 20-12 heading into the final period.

Charlevoix moved the ball down to Frankfort’s 10-yard line with five minutes remaining, but Ritter was sidelined after a big hit and a quarterback-center exchange kept the Rayders from finding the end zone for the tying score.

“It wasn’t like the kids came out flat, we just had to make a couple moves,” Provost said. “We made adjustments and it was a different second half.”

“It’s frustrating because when you look back at the little things, take away minor details that cost us, its a different game. The kids see that too. Their effort is there and we’re getting better and those things are starting to eliminate themselves. It’s just frustrating because of how hard they fought. They could have laid down, but they didn’t.”

Despite the loss, Ritter showed again why he’s considered one of the best players in the area as he rushed for 141 yards on 20 carries for two touchdowns.

Cole Wright finished the game going 8-for-15 for 86 yards passing and Robby Morgridge added four catches for 33 yards receiving.

Michael Pearsall led the Rayders with 11 tackles, followed by five tackles each from Carson Gauthier and Danzelle Williams and Thomas Rudolph finished with two interceptions.

The Rayders will get back to business this week for a matchup with Johannesburg-Lewiston on Friday. JoBurg won last year’s contest 28-7 and hold a 4-1 record on the season.

“So far, bouncing back with this group of kids has been super easy,” Provost said. “Every week is a new week. I’m not worried about that at all; they want to win every week. I truly thought that overall, everybody was playing hard and playing as we expected them to and trying to get the win.”