It was clear early on Friday night Reed was not playing the same Douglas team it slaughtered 43-6 in the first round of last year’s playoffs. It was even clearer the Raiders were in deep trouble.

The Tigers answered Reed’s opening drive touchdown with 26 unanswered points in the first half, including a 45-yard “Hail Mary” play with no time on the first-half clock and cruised to a 40-13 non-league road win.

“They came out and played hard defensively, and that’s what you have to do against a skilled team like this,” Douglas coach Mike Rippee said after his team held Reed to just over half its average offensive output. “They’re well coached and can put a lot of points on the board. We just played good Tigers football.”

The “Hail Mary” pass from quarterback Tim Rudnick to Zach McFadden was set up when Reed’s Zach Comphel thwarted a Douglas drive with an interception at the 6. Comphel returned the interception to the Tigers’ 38, giving Reed a shot to cut into a 19-7 deficit with 22 seconds left in the first half.

However, two plays later, Reed coughed up the ball. Tanner Thomas picked up the fumble and brought it to the Reed 45 with 5 seconds left on the clock.

Douglas (2-1) lined up with trips right. Rudnick rolled out to the right and threw a tight spiral into the end zone where McFadden hauled it in on the run. The PAT was good, pushing the edge to 26-7 and adding to the visitors’ momentum.

Reed’s first two drives in the second half ended in interceptions with linebacker Luis Pina-Duarte being in the right place at the right time for the second one. Raiders quarterback Tyler Pine was hit as he released the ball and threw it right to Pina-Duarte, who returned it 66 yards to the end zone for a 33-7 edge.

Reed looked like it had a touchdown late in the third quarter when Aaron Greenblat seemed to come down with Pine’s third completion in a row. But the officials ruled the Douglas defense snatched the ball away before Greenblat came down with it in the end zone.

“My defense is what helps me get going,” Thomas, a Douglas defensive back said. “I love playing with them. They did a great job. We worked hard. Our defense came through everywhere tonight.”

The Raiders were able to make it 33-13 with 9:05 remaining in the game when Pine connected with Tony Tremaine on a 5-yard TD reception. That was as good as it got as the Tigers trekked 72 yards on the ensuing drive in barely over two minutes.

James McLaughlin caught a 24-yard touchdown pass off a perfectly executed play-action toss for the final 40-13 margin.

Rudnick finished with 276 yards through the air and four touchdowns.

The game started off well for the host Raiders with Pine finding wide receiver Lennox Pierce for a 3-yard touchdown less than three minutes in, but the defense could not stop an offense that averaged 424.5 yards in its first two games.

The Tigers came right back and cut the deficit to 7-6 on a 22-yard pass play to Johnny Pollack.

“They took it to us, but we caught fire,” Rippee said. “Answering with a score really picked us up. Then the defense started to play up.”

The Douglas defense forced a fumble on Reed’s next drive and took advantage. The Tigers capped a 43-yard drive when Rudnick rolled out of the pocket and fired to a sliding McFadden in the end zone for a 20-yard strike.

Pine completed 14 of 22 passes for 144 yards. Pierce caught six of those passes for 96 yards.

Christian Thompson ran for a career high 136 yards on just 14 carries for the Blue and Gold.

Reed (2-2) will now try to refocus on its High Desert League opener against reigning regional and league champion McQueen Friday night at 7:30 p.m.