COLUMBIA – Laurens took on A.C. Flora on Friday night, still without a quarterback who is actually a quarterback.

Nehemias Fernandez, one of the wildcats who took turns being Raiders, rushed 26 times for 215 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t quite enough. The Falcons edged Laurens, 20-17, at Memorial Stadium.

Laurens (0-4) spent the night so close but yet so far away. The Raiders never led, but never trailed by more than 10 points and established a cornerstone for the remainder of Greg Porter’s first season at the helm.

The Raiders now have a week off that could hardly be more opportune. When they play Lexington on Sept. 27 at K.C. Hanna Stadium, they will have had some time to heal at least one of its quarterbacks.

“This gives us the time to spend two weeks teaching,” Porter said afterward to WLBG’s Doug Holliday. “Maybe we can grab that wind in two weeks.

“If you’re these guys, this is a mess and you’re sweating. We’ve still got most of a season in front of us, and maybe we can get ready for [Lexington] and turn our season around.”

Still missing their first two quarterbacks, the Raiders again ran different, untraditional alignments, generally out of the wildcat formation. Will Thompson injured his shoulder and J.T. Campbell received a concussion in the Clinton game. A committee shared the behind-center duties with Fernandez as its chairman.

The Raiders made the most of what they had.

Laurens won the toss and chose to receive but lost three yards in three plays on its first possession. After a punt, Flora drove into Raider territory but ran out of downs, courtesy of an offensive-interference call. Unfortunately, Laurens fumbled it right back.

Then Flora’s Roper Wentzky threw an interception, by Owen Crowe, Again, the Laurens offense couldn’t budge, but Brock Franklin pulled off a 55-yard punt from the two-yard line.

The teams almost got out of the first period scoreless, but Wentzky found Parks Van Vlake for a 24-yard touchdown with 16.3 seconds left. Grant Hill kicked the extra point to give the Falcons a 7-0 edge.

TyJ Jones had a long run negated by an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.

Laurens got its initial first down on Fernandez’s eight-yard run, but the possession ended with another Franklin punt. After recovering a fumble, Laurens advanced deep into Flora territory after two more Fernandez rushes.

After a first down from the Flora 18, Laurens had to settle for a 35-yard Franklin field goal with 2:24 remaining in the half. The Falcons went to half leading, 7-3. Laurens’ only first-half pass fell incomplete.

For the game, Laurens was 2/6 passing, with five throws by Josh Goodwin and one, a completion for 18 yards in Fernandez’s only attempt.

The Falcons took the second-half kickoff and marched down the field. Wentzky found Van Vlake for a five-yard touchdown pass. The conversion went awry, and Flora led, 13-3, with 6;27 remaining in the third quarter.

The Raiders picked up an extraordinary break when a botched hook-and-ladder set up Fernandez’s 49-yard rush late in the third quarter. Franklin’s conversion narrowed the Falcons’ lead to 13-10.

The hopes were short-lived as Brandon Mack capped a long drive with a two-yard touchdown rush, stretching the edge to 20-10 with 7:09 left in the game.

Not so fast. Fernandez broke loose on another long run to the Flora nine. On fourth down and less than a yard to the goal, Denari Lee-Jackson squeezed in and Franklin’s kick made it 20-17 with 4:45 to play.

Laurens eventually forced a punt, but Flora (3-1) ran 3:18 off the clock, and Laurens, with little to offer through the air, took over at its own 14 with 1:27 to play. A personal foul against the Falcons got the Raiders out to the 31, where they ran out of downs with 13 seconds to play.

Fernandez himself rushed for 33 more yards than the team net (182) and two more than its total offense.

Mack was the Flora workhorse, rushing for 207 yards in 37 carries. Wentzky went 12/22 for 151 yards and two scores. Van Vlake caught six of them for 94 yards and both TDs.

The Raiders were only 1/9 on third-down conversions and 1/3 on fourth down.

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