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This year’s Raider football schedule has been decided as the school released their 2023 opponents and posted the schedule on their athletics website. The Raiders see many of their same opponents from last year as they attempt to take another step forward with their win total and continue their progress to try to make it back into the postseason. After finishing last year at 3-7, the Raiders hope the added year of experience for many of their impact players will yield high-quality results this upcoming season.
The Raiders start the season with a few scrimmages, first on Aug. 10 against Bloomington and then another on Aug. 17 against Weimar. The Raiders get their regular season games started on Aug. 25 when they travel out of town to face off against the Luling Eagles. The Eagles visited the Raiders last season in the opener where Luling secured a 27-16 victory over Rice. The next week on Aug. 31, the Raiders host one of the teams they claimed a win over last season as Houston Kashmere comes into town for a rematch of last year’s 28-7 loss to the Raiders. Rice takes a trip to next door Columbus on Sept. 7 for a rematch of their own to try to fare better than the 49-0 defeat the Raiders suffered at home to the Cardinals last season. The Raiders will celebrate parent night at home against the Palacios Sharks on Sept. 15 as they try to secure a third-straight win over the Sharks after taking a 37-27 victory last season.
Rice has their first backto- back home games of the season after Palacios when they host Tidehaven on Sept. 22 during the game where they recognize the young and upcoming Little Raiders who will be in the halls and on the field for Rice High School in the coming years. The Raiders will be looking to avenge a 42-28 defeat to the Tigers last season. Rice hits the road on Sept. 29 to face off against the Brazos Cougars to make up for another high-scoring defeat last season at 42-27. After that short trip from home, the Raiders return on Oct. 6 to take on the Danbury Panthers and celebrate homecoming as current and former Raiders reconvene, hoping to see the football team claim a second-straight victory over Danbury after claiming a tight, 28-27 win last season in what was Rice’s closest game of the year.
The Raiders then go on a trip to Boling on Oct. 13 where they will be hoping to have an improved performance this upcoming season after dropping last season’s game by a 42-7 margin. After their game against Boling, the Raiders return home for Teacher Appreciation night to face off against the Van Vleck Leopards after falling to their district opponents 49-21 last year. Rice has a bye week on Oct. 27 before hitting the road again for the final game of the regular season.
The regular season finale will be against East Bernard as the Raiders hope to show their improvement and perform better than last year’s team did in a 42-7 loss.
