Raiders fall short vs. Smith County
9:26 p.m. Oct. 10, 2025 • Updated 9:42 p.m. Oct. 13, 2025
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
A promising start couldn’t hold for Moore County on Friday night as the Raiders fell 27-13 to Smith County, despite a late touchdown that sparked a glimmer of hope.
Quarterback Isaac Petty led the Raiders on an impressive opening drive, mixing short passes and designed runs to march downfield. A completion to Cole Taylor set up first-and-goal, and Petty capped the drive with a 1-yard keeper into the end zone. However, a high snap on the extra point kept Moore County’s lead at 6-0.
The Owls answered in the second quarter, with Riley Martin connecting on a touchdown strike to Gage Gibbs. After the PAT, Smith County led 7-6 and never trailed again. The Owls extended their advantage with a 1-yard touchdown run by Landon Blevins, then added a 35-yard field goal by Bradley Pickett just before halftime to go up 17-6.
Smith County opened the third quarter with another long drive, capped by a Pickett field goal from 27 yards out to make it 20-6. The Raiders’ offense continued to move the ball in spurts, but couldn’t finish drives.
“We’ve moved the ball in most games,” Moore County head coach Kris White said. “We just have a hard time scoring, or something puts us behind the sticks, and we can’t overcome it.”
Despite the setbacks, White praised his team’s effort from start to finish. “My feeling after the game was the first thing I said to ’em was how proud I was of ’em,” he said.
“You can see the effort that they’re giving out on the field. It’s just, for lack of a better word, bad technique at times – whether it’s blocking, tackling, or doing the right assignment – but the effort’s there. So my feelings toward them were just proud of how they played and kept fighting.”
Moore County found life late in the fourth quarter when Petty connected with Taylor for a 54-yard touchdown pass, trimming the deficit to 20-13 with 3:25 remaining.
But the Owls quickly sealed the outcome, driving deep into Raider territory and punching in a 6-yard scoring run by Max Long with under two minutes to play.
White also highlighted several individual performances. “Drew [Hardison] had a good week,” he said. “Isaac made a lot more tackles on defense than I thought he did watching the game. I didn’t realize he was in on as many plays defensively. Tristyn [Gray] was in on quite a few.”
Petty completed 10 of 22 attempts for 136 yards with a TD and a pick. He also had 14 carries for 91 yards and a score. Taylor posted four catches for a team-high 84 yards and a touchdown.
Even as the losses have mounted, White said the lessons go far beyond the scoreboard. “If you look at high school football as a whole, what this group is going through – especially this group of seniors – 10 or 12 years down the road when they’re grown men, married with families and things aren’t going well, they’ll look back on this and say, ‘We just kept pushing through,’” White said.
“Things didn’t turn out the way we wanted in the end, but we kept fighting and did it to the best of our ability. And that’s what the game’s supposed to be about. Like I told ’em six weeks ago, I won’t worry about what the scoreboard says. As long as they’re giving effort, it does hurt to lose – but if you’re giving it all you got, that’s all you got.”
With the loss, Moore County dropped to 1-6, while Smith County improved to 4-4. The Raiders return home on Friday, Oct. 17, to host Region 5A foe Fayetteville for Homecoming. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
• Soup and Chili Supper fundraiser for Moore County emergency services, starting at 5 p.m. in the MCHS Cafeteria.
