Article written by Doug Dyer - Sports Writer

NASHVILLE – What looked like a track meet after two series turned into an eye-opening experience for the Ravenwood Raptors Friday night.

Will Hester's return to the sideline as Ravenwood coach ended with a 56-28 spanking at the hands of Montgomery Bell Academy.

The Big Red took advantage of six Raptor turnovers, getting three rushing touchdowns from Rhett Hayles and a total of five TDs from quarterback Marcel Reed.

"You want to play great opponents so you can learn about your team," Hester said. "That's pretty strong for the first game of the season (by them)."

MBA controlled the line of scrimmage most of the game, keeping the ball moving on offense and keeping Raptor QB Chris Parson on his toes with its defense.

"He was running around too much," Hester said. "We did some good stuff and some things that weren't very good."

Parson did throw three TDs of his own for Ravenwood in his first start, but it was not enough to overcome the mistakes.

"Clearly we have some things we need to work on, but we play these games so those things are exposed," Hester said.

"After last year, we dealt with a lot of adversity," Raptor senior Blake Irvin said. "Having good competition like this will just make us better."

MBA's defense collected three fumbles and two interceptions, along with sacking Ravenwood's punter on a mishandled snap. A 7-7 tie after seven minutes of the first quarter turned into 35-14 advantage at halftime and near-panic mode for the Raptors.

"We came in overconfident," said Irvin, who caught two TDs from Parson. "We thought we were better than we were, and we just weren't ready for this."

The second half didn't start much better, with Ravenwood fumbling on its second play of the third quarter and the Big Red scoring four plays later to up their lead to 42-14.

Despite their offensive woes, Hester did see some good things out of his team and junior QB Parson.

"He's going to continue to mature and grow, and his ceiling is off the charts," he said.

The Raptors' second drive of the third quarter ended with another turnover, this time an interception inside the MBA 20-yard line to end a scoring threat.

Parson engineered another scoring chance, though, driving 80 yards in five plays to start the fourth. Cason Edmondson caught an 11-yard TD pass to make it 49-21. Parson threw three TDs and finished with 302 yards passing, but his two interceptions proved costly.