Great Scott! Linebacker’s critical stop helps Raiders put away second-round playoff victory

QUINCY — Quincy Notre Dame defensive tackle Kellen Mangan has a front row seat to the weekly exploits of teammate Taylin Scott. So, it came as no surprise for Mangan to see the Raiders middle linebacker make a momentum-swinging stop on defense.

“Taylin is all-state for a reason,” Mangan said. “He makes those plays.”

Scott’s open-field, one-on-one tackle inside QND’s 10-yard line in the early stages of the third quarter prevented a potential Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond touchdown and forced a turnover on downs. A touchdown would have made it a one-score contest.

“I was just ready for it,” Scott said. “I knew that it was going to be a big play. I did what I had to do.”

The offense answered with a 92-yard scoring drive, capped by an Ivan Hun 6-yard touchdown run to give QND an insurmountable three-touchdown lead, as the Raiders defeated the Knights 34-7 in Saturday’s second round of the Class 2A playoffs at Advance Physical Therapy Field. 

The victory is QND’s 10^th in a row and earns the Raiders (10-1) a spot in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2019.

The third-seeded Raiders will square off against second-seeded Maroa-Forsyth (10-1) at 2 p.m. next Saturday in Maroa. The Trojans have reached the state semifinals each of the previous two seasons and have two state titles and six state runner-up finishes in Josh Jostas’ 25-year coaching tenure.

“It’s going to be good for us to get on the road and face a good quality opponent,” QND coach Jack Cornell said. “For us to try to find a way to have success we’ve got to control what we can control.” 

That’s how the Raiders approached the offensive possession following Scott’s stop, going to a no-huddle, up-tempo attack.

“We wanted to try to catch them off balance,” Cornell said. “We certainly didn’t want to let them have a chance to sub guys in and out and be fresh.” 

Raiders junior quarterback Hunter Schuckman completed 12 of 17 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown running the offense.

“I felt like I could get in a groove today,” Schuckman said. “It’s just the trust in my guys and everyone up there blocking for me. It just gave me the confidence and poise to go out there and play the best I can.”

The dual-threat ability for the Raiders offense proved to be too much of a hurdle for ALAH’s defense. QND running back Ivan Hun led the rushing attack, carrying the ball 18 times for 151 yards and three touchdowns.

“It was the first time that we’ve had a real rainy game, and it was real cold,” Hun said. “We just ran the ball and kept on rolling.”

It wasn’t always easy for the QND offense, which failed to score in its first two trips in the red zone. The Knights’ defense stopped the Raiders at the 13-yard line and 12-yard line, respectively, on consecutive first-quarter series. QND broke through on its third drive of the game when Schuckman connected with Gavin Doellman for a 17-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead with 3:36 left in the first quarter.

After the Raiders defense forced a three-and-out, Hun increased the lead to 13-0 on a 40-yard touchdown run as the first quarter neared a conclusion.

“When you’ve got a 220-pound running back that runs like the wind running behind (the offensive line), some special things can happen,” Cornell said.

The Knights found the end zone toward the end of the first half when Maddix Stirrett’s 17-yard touchdown run cut ALAH’s deficit to 13-7. But the Raiders’ defense kept the Knights scoreless for the final 28 minutes, 43 seconds of game time.

ALAH (9-2) entered the contest averaging 38.9 points per game and scored 54 points in its first-round playoff win against North Mac. But the Knights mustered only 154 yards of offense on 55 plays against a QND defense which has now surrendered 85 points over its last 10 games.

QND allowed less than 200 yards of total offense to ALAH in a 21-14 upset of the top-seeded Knights in last year’s first-round playoff matchup.

“The whole week in practice we focused a lot on just being with each other. Our whole thing is having fun,” Mangan said. “Our (defensive coordinator Ben Morrison) gives us a great game plan, and if we follow it, those are the answers to the test. Our plays are the answers to the test. We followed through and we got it done.”

Scott had a team-high 22 tackles, including five tackles for loss and a sack, while defensive end Charsten Williams added 11 tackles and a sack, and defensive back Gavin Doellman had eight tackles and an interception.

“It’s not just one person. It’s everybody,” Scott said when asked about the effectiveness of the defense as a whole. “We all want to win. We’re all champions.”