ROCKINGHAM — Even though there were a lot of yellow flags all over Raider Stadium, homecoming week ended well for the Richmond Senior High School football team and the rest of the students on Friday.
In a game between teams that hadn’t lost yet, the Raiders and their first-year head coach Brad Denson won first place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference rankings.
Richmond beat Union Pines High School 27-8, and Bryan Till, who used to be Richmond’s head coach, shut out the Vikings in the last three quarters. The Raiders had also won five games in a row.
Denson said the team “still played hard” even though they had 16 mistakes for 141 yards, saying the Raiders need to fix some things.
As the first quarter ended and the second one began, Richmond was down by one point. They were steady and used a balanced attack to score 20 straight points.
The Raiders scored four scores, all of which were on the ground and were made possible by good passing. Richmond only gained 59 yards on the ground in the win, but they did gain 392 yards through the air.
Chance Crowder, a sophomore running back, scored two touchdowns for the second time this season. Fellow seniors Jordan Bostick and Domonic Tillman, a junior quarterback, hit the end zone once each.
The Raiders’ defence held Union Pines to just 80 yards of offence, 20 yards running and 60 yards passing.
Richmond also got three turnovers: senior cornerback and homecoming king Keidreion Crump picked off a pass in the first half, and senior linebacker Joe Parsons and junior edge rusher Terande Spencer recovered fumbles in the last two quarters.
Right after getting the opening kickoff, the Raiders’ offence went on a nine-play, 80-yard march to the end zone.
The junior quarterback Evan Hodges led the drive with 20 of 27 passes for 264 yards. Hodges threw two touchdowns to Crowder and one to junior wide receiver Amer Morrison, giving the offence five first downs.
On second-and-five, Crowder ran through the defence and scored from 17 yards out. When senior Billy West kicked the PAT, it went through the uprights and made it 7-0 with 7:48 left in the first quarter.
The Richmond defence stopped the Vikings in three plays on their first series, with senior nose tackle Tate Simpson making a tackle for loss. One mistake on the punt return, however, gave Union Pines new life at the Raiders’ 34-yard line.
Without giving up, the defence forced another three-and-out, with senior Zach Gardner and Zy Martin making a joint tackle-for-loss.
Richmond’s next attacking series got stuck, and they had to try to punt. The kicker made a smart move by kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety instead of giving the Vikings the ball inside the 10-yard line after the ball was high snapped over West’s head.
Union Pines got the ball back on the kickoff and used a horse collar mistake and a string of catches to take the game’s only lead.
Anthony Goswick, the quarterback, threw a score to Kaeden Sovey from 14 yards out, ending a 61-yard drive that took eight plays.
On a blitz up the middle, Parsons blocked the PAT try, which kept Richmond’s deficit at 8-7 with 41 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Raiders scored their last touchdown of the first half on their next drive, which began at their own 43-yard line and also had nine plays.
Tillman completed a first-down pass of 16 yards to junior Keonta Pegues. He then completed passes of 22 yards to junior Jayden Hamilton and 16 yards to senior Keyonta Davis to get the team into the red zone.
First down, third down, three yards. On third down, Tillman finished the drive with a quarterback keep to the left, running through two defenders to score.
West made another good play, this time giving Richmond a 14–8 lead with 7:21 left in the second. They would keep that lead until halftime.
In the first half, both teams had three more chances to score. The Richmond three-point attempt ended with a lost fumble and a turnover on downs. The time ran out while the Raiders were driving in Union Pines territory.
There were two punts by the Vikings, and two plays after Richmond lost the ball, Goswick threw an interception to Crump. Crump stuck with a thrown ball and got his third pick of the season, which is the most on his team.
Richmond’s defence forced a quick three-and-out to start the second half. After the punt, the Raiders drove into the red zone, but Jonathan Jones lost the ball and Drew Dougherty picked it up.
The next couple of plays got stuck at the 11-yard line, which is also where Dougherty first caught the loose ball. On the second play of that drive, Goswick messed up a snap and lost the ball. Parsons picked it up at the Vikings’ 11-yard line.
That was the first of two turnovers that the Richmond defence made, which led to two scores.
With the defence backed up and facing a third-and-18, Tillman threw a 17-yard pass to Morrison. Morrison made several big catches throughout the game to help the offence get short yards and first downs.
Bostick ran through the line on fourth-and-one from the two-yard line. It was his only touchdown of the game and the eighth touchdown he has scored on the ground this season, which is the most on his team.
In the back of the end zone, Hodges almost hit Spencer for two, but the ball was just out of reach. The score was 20-8 with 4:20 left in the third.
The next time Union Pines (5-2, 2-1 SAC) had the ball, it made progress and crossed halfway to get into Richmond territory. But the Raider defence popped a catch by Jeffrey Leone, which Spencer picked up. It was his third recovery of the season.
After that turnover, the Raiders got the ball at their own 23-yard line. They then went on a 13-play, 77-yard drive that took a long time but finished with another Crowder touchdown run.
Bostick’s wildcat rush on fourth-and-3 for a first down and a first look at the red zone were two important plays on the drive. Tillman’s pass to Morrison for seven yards got the team inside the 10-yard line.
The next play, a holding call moved Richmond back to the 17-yard line. But when the ball was thrown to Crowder, he ran quickly across the goal line and into the end zone on the right side. West made the extra point kick one more time, giving Richmond a 27-8 lead with 5:27 left in the game.
Though Till and the Vikings had two more offensive opportunities, they had to punt on the first one and Spencer sacked Goswick as time ran out on the second one.
The Raiders have a 6-0 record overall and are the only team in their conference that hasn’t lost. Next week, they will play their last regular-season away game.
Lee County High School (4-3, 1-2 SAC) will be the host of Richmond. Pinecrest High School beat Lee County 34-16 on Friday.