See game recap below 

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Thomas Jefferson Spoils Auburn’s Homecoming
By Colin Caruso

Going into the fourth quarter of this contest, both the Auburn sideline and fan section were fully prepared to win this football game. The Trojans were up by eleven, dominating the line of scrimmage on offense, and had the crowd amped up on their homecoming night. In came the Thomas Jefferson Raiders, down by two scores to begin the fourth, with no answer for the Auburn offense. That is when quarterback Niko De La Cruz began to heat up. He threw an earlier touchdown on the Raiders first possession on a double reverse, a beautiful pass to James Fitch to take an early lead, but found himself trailing entering the final quarter.

On the first play in the fourth quarter, De La Cruz, in Russell Wilson type fashion, scrambled left and right and spotted Phillip Cuadron wide open on the left sideline. Cuadron then ran another twenty yards down the sideline for a beautiful 50 yard pitch and catch to cut the lead to five after the failed point after, 23-18. The Raiders gave Auburn two first downs on penalties in their ensuing drive, one on an offside, and one on a costly facemask that put the Trojans deep into Raider territory. But the Raiders held and forced a turnover on downs, getting the ball back midway through the fourth quarter. The Raiders marched right down the field and De La Cruz capped off the drive with a 1 yard TD run, followed by a scramble for the 2-point conversion, to take a 26-23 lead with just 48 seconds on the clock.

Auburn’s offense, primarily a running attack, is not equipped to make the big passing plays down the field when they have little time. They instead settled for a few shorter passes, more in line with their playing scheme. The short plays were too little too late, and Thomas Jefferson pulled off the upset on the road, 26-23.

Top Performers:
Thomas Jefferson
Niko De La Cruz – 7/8 118 yards 2TD, 1 rushing TD
Zachariah Grayson – 23 carries for 179 yards, TD

Auburn
Brier Atkinson – 16 carries for 113 yards, TD
Kieo Buchanon – 10 carries for 80 yards, TD