Lee High School- It was a sellout crowd in the backyard as the Raines Vikings visited the Lee Generals in the kickoff of the 2017 regular season. There was a heightened since of excitement surrounding this game for several reasons. Reason number one, Lee and Raines are two of the best in the area, as both teams are coming off deep playoff runs from a year ago. Reason two, both teams are superbly coached. Lee’s OJ Small has built a powerhouse at Lee, returning a fledgling program to prominence. While Coach Deran Wiley of Raines has also etched his name into stone at one of the area’s most historic programs. Wiley is just the second Raines coach to take the team to the State championship in the last twenty years. Reason three, these teams have become bitter rivals in the era of player movement from school. Lee doesn’t have Ed White to call arch rivals anymore, and Raines and Ribault are more like feuding brothers than bitter rivals. Yet it’s Raines and Lee that have established a rivalry that everyone is eager to see. And after the big Raines second half comeback last year after a grill fell sending people scattering and forcing players to lye on the field. Ironically, there would be no grill in the backyard this time.
Raines got on the board first with a field goal early in the second quarter. Ishmael Sanders kicked a 20 yard field goal in the first quarter to strike first for the Vikings. Yet Lee would not take long to respond. After trailing 3-0 in the first quarter Lee’s #3 Tahveon Nicholson took the hand off around the right end for the General’s first score of the game. Quarterback #1 Derrick Jones would convert a two point conversion on a run up the middle to add to the score, Lee- 8 and Raines- 3. It took a while for both offenses to get hot. Some of it was due to defense but some of it was also due to penalties. The game was littered with flags all evening. One of those flags negated a 27 yard touchdown pass by Raines Quarterback #2 Ivory Durham IV to #1 George Webb due to a holding call I the 2nd. On the same drive Lee committed a senseless roughing the passer penalty giving Raines a first down on 3rd and 25. Both teams seemed to have nervous jitters in part for the big game atmosphere and the fact that it was both team’s first regular season game. 
Durham IV and the Vikings would make Lee pay for their costly penalty. After Brandon Marshall carried the pile on a strong run of 10 yards, Durham capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run putting Raines ahead 9-8. The two-point play failed for Raines and this might’ve proven costly for the Vikings. Late in the first half, Lee drove the ball down the field and culminated the drive with a pass from Jones (Noodle) to #14 Theodore Ingram for the 5 yard touchdown to put Lee up 14-9. Lee would miss the PAT and go into halftime with a slim lead.
In the second half Raines came out smoking. Durham (HJ) hooked up with several receivers including George Webb on a 42 yard catch and run. The drive would end in six as Raine’s Raynell Killian scored on a nice burst and run for the Vikes. They regained the lead 16-14 early in the third quarter. Yet Lee would not be denied on this night. Derrick Jones hooked up guided his team into the redzone and Jones would score the go ahead touchdown on a six yard run to give the Generals the lead 20-16.
With half of the fourth quarter to go it was time for defenses to do what they had done all game. These two offensive juggernauts will average 70 points combined a game going forward in the regular season. However on this night 36 points combined is all that both defenses were willing to give up. Bone crushing hits all night by both defenses including Lee’s DB Eugene Bowman , DB Vincent Davis and LB Terrance James, and Raine’s #21 DB Diop Kee, and LB Aric Horne. Yet the defensive play of the night came from Lee’s #34 Robert Simmons. On Raine’s final drive Simmons laid a jarring hit on Raines receiver Kamaree Noble, separating him from the football and figuratively separating Raines from a win.
Final Score Lee 20 Raines 16.
