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Denton Ryan's offense back in rhythm

 

October 26, 2009, 2:53 PM

By: Jeff Andrews / Special contributor

Denton Ryan's high-flying offense got back on track with a dominating 56-14 win over Wichita Falls on Thursday, a victory that helped clinch Ryan's 10th straight playoff berth since Joey Florence took over as head coach in 2000.

In a win over Little Elm the week before, the Raiders (7-1 overall, 4-1 in District 5-4A) scored just 17 points, the lowest since Scotty Young took over as QB in 2008.

Young, who has orally committed to Texas Tech, had just 202 yards and one touchdown against Little Elm  all career lows for the senior when he's played the entire game. Against Wichita Falls, he had 327 yards and five touchdowns at halftime.

Little Elm's power running game was a factor in Ryan's power outage. With the clock running, the game was shorter than any the Raiders have played in this year. Ryan got away from its passing game as the game progressed as Young threw the ball just 25 times.

"We didn't have as many opportunities," Florence said. "We got conservative toward the end of the game. We were just trying to win the game. Some of it was us, some of it was Little Elm and some of it was just the type of game. " It didn't take long for the Raiders to rebound. They were up 35-7 at halftime against Wichita Falls while Young finished the game with 383 yards and six touchdowns in less than a full game's work.

It's been another banner year for Young, who as a junior came two touchdowns shy of tying Graham Harrell's state record of 67 touchdown passes in a season. He finished 2008 with 4,495 yards and 65 touchdowns.

He has 2,480 yards and 35 touchdowns through eight games this year. That's slightly off the pace he set last year when he had 2,788 yards and 42 touchdowns after eight games.

Ryan hosts The Colony at 7 p.m. on Friday, the team's final tune-up before it plays district-leading Denton Guyer (8-0, 5-0) in the regular season finale. Guyer travels to Wichita Falls at 7 p.m. on Friday.

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