There is a consensus that there are four teams in 5A that are the head of the pack, the best of that pack may be the Denton Ryan Raiders. The Raiders are moving down a classification this year and when they playoffs start they’ll be in division one and poised for a playoff run that ends on championship weekend.
The Raiders are led by junior quarterback Spencer Sanders who just committed to Oklahoma State and one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the 2018 class. As Sanders goes, his team goes. He leads his team in passing 1,179 yards with a 60% completion rate and 529 rushing yards on 86 carries and has a combined 26 touchdowns on the season (15 air, 11 ground). When you watch Sanders play, you can see the preparation he puts in and that results in him rarely making mistakes. For example, in a game against Frisco Lone Star, he saw on film that one of the areas of attack was running outside, Sanders in that game had two of his rushing touchdowns on off tackle runs.
While Sanders is the engine of the offense, he has three receivers Gabriel Douglas, Tauskie Dove, and Jimmy Love who have 31, 22, and 25 catches respectively, Sanders is able to spread the ball to his weapons to alleviate the focus on himself. Also, running back Tyreke Davis compliments Sanders in the read-option.
Head coach David Henigan said after the 51-34 win over Lone Star that was a big win for his team as Lone Star had gotten to where the Raiders want to be, so beating a team of that caliber gave his team a lot of confidence.
The size advantage that the Raiders have on the offensive and defensive lines will give them quite the advantage as they work their way into the playoffs and that is a benefit of moving down a classification this season.
If there is a question for this Raiders team, it’s the competition they have the rest of the way, they rolled through their tough non-district schedule with wins over Lancaster, Wylie East, Mesquite Poteet and the before mentioned Frisco Lone Star all considered top teams in the DFW area, but the lack of competition in District 5-5A brings up the question if the Raiders will be tested before the playoffs.
Just watch this team in-person and you’ll see why they are one of the top four teams in the state, and why they might even be the favorite to win the title in 5A-D1 so far in the season.
