The JV Lions played away at Ranger Stadium Thursday night to open district play against Vista Ridge. Unable to ever establish a firm lead over the Rangers, the Lions were defeated 22-15.

The first quarter was slow for the Lions, as moving the ball against the Ranger defense was nearly impossible. Sophomore running back Adison Larue and sophomore wide receiver Jake Reed weren’t picking up first downs and they struggled to get far from the line of scrimmage. While Larue went on to score before the quarter’s end, the Rangers began restricting Reed and a tackle nearly placed a fumble in the hands of the Rangers, had it not been for a recovery by sophomore lineman Henry Birmingham.

“It was great recovering the fumble,” Birmingham said. “It would’ve been bad if we had handed the ball to them then.”

In the second quarter, the Rangers scored another touchdown to put them back in front. Despite a last minute interception by junior Colin Siegler, the Lions were unable to score again, and halftime closed with a score of 12-7.

“Of course it wasn’t great to be behind at halftime, especially being so close behind” junior lineman Dyson Jones said. “We just had to look to the second half.”

Despite the score at the half, the Lions looked to get back on top. The third quarter was overshadowed by a bad fourth-down snap to sophomore Ben Hoff, which resulted in a safety, which was then declared a Ranger touchdown. The fourth quarter, however, proved to be quite a good one for the Lions, with a touchdown by Larue and a two-point conversion for sophomore quarterback Spencer Cook.

“They did well to come back at the end,” Coach Grayless said. “Overall I thought our kids did a great job of not giving in.”