JONESBORO — Nothing was easy for Nettleton on Friday night. First downs were followed by penalties, defensive stops were answered by stalled drives or turnovers. So when Raiders defensive back Jasper Harrison picked off a Blytheville pass deep into the fourth quarter and the Nettleton offense trotted onto the field clinging to a tenuous six-point lead, the Raiders' coaches did the one thing that consistently worked. They put the ball in the hands of Jaylin Small. Small rushed for all 42 yards on the clinching drive, including a 26-yard touchdown run with 3:16 to play, to cap the Raiders' 38-25 victory over Blytheville. It was a fitting conclusion for the senior quarterback, who tormented the Chickasaws all night with his feet. He gashed Blytheville for 249 yards rushing on 28 carries, which was more than enough to thrill the big Homecoming crowd at Raider Field. Every time Nettleton needed a play, Small delivered. He accumulated 289 yards of total offense — Nettleton's offense only produced 321 yards total — and added three rushing touchdowns and a touchdown pass to Stanley Wilson. "He carried us," said Nettleton coach Steve Hampton. "He carried the offense tonight. We're thankful he's on our side. He had a great night. "I didn't realize he had that many yards. We were running him quite a bit just because of what they were giving us. We just had to keep taking it and keep grinding. He carried us. He put us on his shoulders. I think he had a little determination tonight that he wasn't going to let this game slip away from us." The Raiders' defense was clutch as well. After struggling for much of the middle two quarters, the unit shut out Blytheville on their last five drives of the game. Four of those drives ended on downs and the fifth ended on Harrison's interception. Mitch Sandborn, Jaylon Allison and Jacquavin Wilson all had sacks for the Raiders as well. "You've got to give them credit," said Blytheville coach Ben Fisher. "Their front five got after us (in the second half)… I think more credit goes to them than anything we did wrong." The Nettleton defense also scored the game's first touchdown on Christian Hightower's 25-yard interception return just 3:39 into the game. Nettleton jumped ahead 10-0 on Garrett Miller's 26-yard field goal, but Blytheville (3-2, 0-2) awoke from its sluggish start. Demadre Clark, who finished with 168 yards on 27 carries, scored the first of his three touchdowns from 16 yards out to trim the Nettleton lead to 10-6 after one quarter. Twice in the game Blytheville would take the lead. Clark's 18-yard run at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter put the Chickasaws ahead 13-10, and then with 4:42 left in the third, Clark sprinted 52 yards to make it 25-24 Blytheville. In addition to a competitive opponent, the Raiders often battled their own mistakes also. They had 10 penalties for 87 yards and fumbled five times (losing two). There were bad snaps to contend with and twice Nettleton started drives inside the Blytheville 40, only to come away with no points. "We faced adversity and things didn't go our way — a lot of it we were responsible for," Hampton said. "I'm proud of our kids for hanging in there and the way they kept fighting. "We needed to win a game like this where we had to fight all the way to the end. We hadn't done that. That's something our kids have learned. A big hurdle for them is to fight for four quarters for a victory and they did that tonight." To their credit, the Raiders (3-2, 1-1) battled back repeatedly. It took exactly 19 seconds to regain the lead from Blytheville in the second quarter. Colby Crite's 44-yard kickoff return helped set up Small's 30-yard touchdown run on the next play that made it 17-13. Then on the next drive, Nettleton marched 91 yards in 13 plays to take a 24-13 lead into the half. Small lofted a 15-yard pass to Wilson on the final play of the drive for his only passing touchdown. Blytheville fought back behind the play of Clark and Terry Northern. Northern entered the game at quarterback on the third series and immediately caused Nettleton problems with his running ability. He scored from one yard out in the third quarter to pull Blytheville to within 24-19, and two minutes later the Chicks took their final lead on Clark's long run. But Blytheville wouldn't score again. Small gave the Raiders the lead for good on a 35-yard run with 29 seconds left in the third, making the score 31-25 after Miller's extra point. Then Small finished the game in style with his final touchdown — a burst up the middle where he sprinted into the end zone untouched. Small admitted to being a little sore after the game, but he was also proud of his team. "We just needed to know how it feels to get a hard win like that," Small said. "My team, we responded like I thought we would. We never gave up on each other and we just kept our heads the whole time." bcowens@jonesborosun.com