The Decatur High seniors posed for pictures at Ogle Stadium with a great season to celebrate after beating first-year school James Clemens 55-14.

The Red Raiders fought their way out an early-season hole and made the playoffs in their last home game.

Decatur will have to travel as a fourth seed with a 4-3 record in Class 6A, Region 8, but the Raiders are in and that’s what counts, senior Jackson Walraven said.

“This is huge for us,” Walraven said. “All coach (Jere Adcock) talked about this week is how important this game is because it gets us in the playoffs and it might be our last game at Ogle.”

Walraven, who had a 13-yard touchdown run, said he got so emotional and fired up that he began crying about the final home game as a senior.

Quarterback Jackson Fite celebrated his 17th birthday with a win that improves the Red Raiders’ overall record to 6-3. He said the victory keeps them on track for another big goal.

“A big tradition at Decatur High is you get a (team) picture on the wall if you win seven games,” Fite said after completing 10 of 15 for 87 and two touchdowns in the win.

Fite threw one pass in the second half before the starters went to the bench.

Adcock said he was proud of his Red Raiders since they have been in a win-or-else situation for most of the season.

He added his team just had to mature and cut out mistakes.

“We just wanted to get there (in the playoffs),” Adcock said. “We achieved all but two of our goals. I have to hand it to the boys; they’ve done what they needed to do to get us in.”

The game was a mismatch from the beginning. Joshua Matthews, who led Decatur with seven carries for 87 yards, raced 87 yards for a touchdown just 27 seconds into the game.

The Raiders took only four plays to score on its next series.

Fite found tight end Zachary Erwin wide open in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 13-0. Fite added an 8-yard touchdown toss to Erwin and it was 20-0 before the late-arriving Decatur fans could get comfortable under the blankets on this chilly night.

A team dominated by freshmen and sophomores, James Clemens didn’t help themselves. They just missed recovering an onside kick to open the game. They had a punt go backwards 13 yards. They fumbled twice, and the Red Raiders’ Victor Mitchell returned a pass interception 35 yards for a touchdown to open the second half.

“The James Clemens players played extremely hard, and they’re not doing it with gimmicks,” Adcock said. “They sprinted out to the football in the fourth quarter. That says a lot for their coach and players.”

Both of James Clemens’ scores came late after Decatur built a 55-0 lead and was substituting freely.

Scoring:

Decatur

Rushing: 175

Passing: 87

Passes: 10/17/ TD-2

Total yards: 262

Fumbles lost: 1

Penalties: 3/12

First downs: 9

James Clemens

Rushing: 45

Passing: 145

Passes: 16/29/Int-2

Total yards: 190

Fumbles lost: 1

Penalties: 1/5

First downs: 7

First quarter

Decatur Joshua Matthews 53 run. (Joseph Douthit kick)

Decatur Zachary Erwin 14 pass from Jackson Fite (kick no good)

Decatur Erwin 8 pass from Fite (Douthit kick)

Second quarter

Decatur Mark Thompson 13 run (Douthit kick)

Decatur Jackson Walraven 13 run (Douthit kick)

Decatur Carlos Carbajal 4 run (Douthit kick)

Third quarter

Decatur Victor Mitchell 35 interception return (Douthit kick)

Decatur Carbajal 23 run (Douthit kick)

Fourth quarter

Clemens LaMarcus Adair 7 run (kick good)

Clemens Kyle Kelley 5 run (kick good)