Raiders score in all three facets of game, stay undefeated by beating Pioneers

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Jack Cornell bristles at the notion special teams aren’t prioritized in the same way as offense and defense.

At Quincy Notre Dame, they are.

“One-hundred percent,” said Cornell, the Raiders’ fourth-year head coach.

And for good reason.

“We’re not your average football team,” Cornell said. “We’re not trying to be your average football team.”

That explains why the Raiders are making as many tide-turning plays on special teams as they are on defense. Friday night, QND utilized scoring plays from each unit to help hold Duchesne in check and head home with a 22-6 victory in its first trip outside of the Gem City this season.

“As long as we can continue to attack on special teams and let that be a lethal phase of the game for us, that’s something to build on,” Cornell said.

It has the Raiders sitting at 4-0 and ranked fifth in Class 4A heading into next week’s game at Breese Mater Dei, a rematch of the 2019 state quarterfinals and another chapter in the rivalry between the private schools.

“That’s a playoff environment,” Cornell said.

The Raiders are intent on making a deep playoff run.

For the third time in four games, a big play on a punt for the Raiders off on the right foot. On the Pioneers’ initial possession, the Raiders’ Jackson Stratton blocked a punt and Nolan Obert, who was playing with one free hand with the other wrapped because of an injury, recovered it in the end zone for a 7-0 lead. 

“For our guys to get that score and respond that way is tremendous,” Cornell said. “We’ve been able to score this season in all three phases. We need to continue to make that a trend.”

QND led 7-6 at halftime and turned the advantage into a two-possession game in the third quarter when Elliott Maas punched in a 3-yard TD run with 4:19 to go. Dalton Miller caught a pass from Calvin Lavery for the two-point conversion and a 15-6 lead.

That two-possession lead ballooned to a three-score spread due to a record-setting defensive play. Charlie Lavery intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 97 yards — believed to be the longest defensive return in program history — for a touchdown with 3:58 to play.

The QND defense limited Duchesne to 244 total yards.