By John Glover
The Daily News

Pine High School hosted Pearl River High School in their first regular game of the season Friday. Both the Raiders and Rebels were coming off jamboree losses, but Pine came out on top Friday with a 54-43 win.
The Rebels started the game off with an aggressive, four-minute drive against the Raiders. Quarterback Ricky Jessup drew first blood with a quarterback keep from the 1-yard line. Kicker Hunter Martenssen kicked the extra point to make the score 7-0.
With their first possession of the game, the Raiders, led by Joey Seal, pushed back with a drive of their own. The fourth play of the drive saw Seal pass to Damarea Odom for 14 yards. Jakayran Handy eventually scored on a 2-yard touchdown run. Handy finished with eight touchdowns in the game.
The Raiders faked the extra point kick and Seal instead pitched it to Brendon Kelly for the two point conversion.
Pearl River answered back with quick four-play drive which ended with a handoff from  Jessup to Courtney Moore for their second touchdown. The extra point was good and the score moved to 14-8 Pearl River at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw both teams trading touchdowns with a Matthew Elsensohn run for the Rebels third touchdown. Jessup went for the two-point conversion, a hand off to Austin Stodard, and brought the score to 22-8.
Seal and the Raiders answered back with a long drive down the field. Seal’s pass to Chris Gordon went for 35 yards. Handy later scored on a pitch from the 15-yard line and, with a failed two-point conversion, the score went to 22-14.
The Rebels put another touchdown on the board with 50 seconds left in the half.
Pine quickly responded. On the first play, Seal threw a pass to Handy from Pine’s own 20-yard-line. Handy caught it and broke through the Rebels’ defense for an 80-yard score. The extra point was a near miss and the score at halftime was 28-20 in favor of the Rebels.
The Raiders rallied after halftime with three back-to-back touchdowns by Handy, aided by the Rebels fumbling during two consecutive kickoffs.
The Raiders held the lead at the end of the third quarter with a score of 40-35. The Raiders continued their push into the fourth quarter.
Handy put two more touchdowns on the board before the Rebels could answer. With a minute left on the clock, Pearl River and Jessup managed to put the final score to the game with a hand off to Kolby Miller.
Next Friday, Pine hosts Varnado at home.