Thomas Jefferson football coach Scott Morgan’s sigh after delivering his postgame message to the Raiders said it all.

Morgan had just finished telling his team, who suffered a 52-27 loss to the Auburn Riverside Ravens on Friday at Memorial Stadium, that losses, including back-to-back losses like Jefferson just experienced, are circumstances that make talented teams stronger.

“This one hurts, I know it does,” Morgan told his players after the game. “But it’s stretches like these that build championship teams. This hurts, but I promise you, we’ll be better on Monday.”

For the Raiders (1-2, 0-1), history is on their side. At roughly the same point last season, Jefferson suffered back-to-back losses to Graham Kapowsin and Kentwood. Then it won its next five straight games en route to a playoff berth.

But if the Raiders’ plan is to win out for the second straight season, the defense has to play better than it did against the Ravens (2-1, 1-0).

Jefferson surrendered 385 yards to the run-heavy Auburn Riverside, with Ravens quarterback Tiano Malietufa leading the team with four touchdown runs.

“Yeah, I mean, we did give up a lot of points, but I thought our defense and offense did a lot of positive things tonight,” Morgan said. “I don’t know that it was as much our defense giving up points as it was their line just doing really well. They have some pretty big guys up front that made it difficult for us and gave their guys good pushes.”

Early on in the first quarter, the Raiders had the upper hand after the Ravens fumbled their opening punt and gave Jefferson and senior quarterback Mason Delacruz, who returned from a previous injury, the ball at the Auburn Riverside 1-yard line. And it was Delacruz who punched in the quarterback keeper, giving the Raiders the 7-0 lead.

After Jefferson’s opening drive though, it was all Ravens.

Three minutes after the Raiders’ score, it was Malietufa running in an 8-yard touchdown of his own to even the score.

Delacruz showed a bit of rust on the Raiders’ very next drive, tossing an interception to Ravens’ safety Alex Caldwell and giving Auburn Riverside good starting field position for its next drive.

“It’s just great to have Mason back in there,” Morgan said. “You can’t replace the leadership element that kid brings to this offense. He was rusty early on, threw the interception, but it was early enough in the game we were, not OK with it, but prepared for that. But he still went on to have a solid night for us.”

The interception led to two consecutive scoring drives for the Ravens, the first being Auburn Riverside’s biggest play of the night when their offensive line split the Jefferson line in half and allowed Malietufa to sprint for a 27-yard touchdown run.

Five minutes later, Sam Braboy took a read-option handoff from Malietufa for a 10-yard touchdown run. Four minutes after that, it was Malietufa bursting through the defense for an 8-yard touchdown run that increased the Auburn Riverside lead to 28-7 with two minutes until halftime.

Being the experienced veteran he is, Delacruz was determined not to go into the locker room without making the statement that the Raiders wouldn’t go quietly. But the statement came from an unexpected running back – Charles Wright, the 5 foot 9 inch, 170-pound freshman.

On the ensuing Ravens kickoff, the ball landed in Wright’s arms inside the 15-yard line. Wright flew down the field for a 77-yard return, giving Delacruz the ball at the Auburn Riverside 19. Delacruz finished with a quarterback keeper run, trimming the deficit to 28-14 at halftime.

“Our freshman was really impressive,” Morgan said. “We saw some good things from him tonight, and we know the future of the running back core is in good hands with Wright.”

Delacruz said he tried to do everything he could to give the Raiders some momentum going into halftime.

“I saw I had a good opportunity to run and I took it,” he said. “They were giving me room on the sideline; I took it and was able to score.”

But the late score from Delacruz had no effect on the Ravens. They came out and scored three touchdowns on their first three drives, totaling eight minutes of the third quarter for 119 rush and 15 passing yards. The scoring barrage gave Auburn Riverside a 45-20 lead.

Delacruz once again put the Raiders on his back in the second half during Jefferson’s second drive in the third quarter.

With 6 minutes, 53 seconds left, his offensive line was finally able to create a hole, allowing Delacruz to go downfield for a 76-yard run and setting up a Jayvon Buckley 4-yard touchdown run. Buckley added the Raiders’ final touchdown run with two minutes left.

Jefferson now looks forward to a two-week road trip to face Auburn and Auburn Mountainview, the two teams currently atop the Olympic division.

The key, Morgan urged, to finding success and getting back on track after two consecutive losses, shouldn’t be that challenging.

“It’s the little things,” he said. “Making adjustments and getting healthy. We were missing some guys, and we should have them back soon. So we all just have to stay calm and make adjustment.”