Updated to include quotes from Richmond head coach Bryan Till.
ROCKINGHAM — A rollercoaster schedule over the next 11 days for the Richmond Senior High School varsity football team added another loop on Tuesday.
Head coach Bryan Till and athletic director Rob Ransom said that the Raiders’ game against Union Pines High School has been moved up to Wed., Oct. 6.
Till explained that the threat of inclement weather on Friday was the reason the game was moved. The schedule change cut the Raiders’ preparation time for the Vikings down to two days of practice instead of the usual four.
“It’s not a big deal (losing practice time) because it’s the same deal for Union Pines,” Till said. “If there was a disparity, we’d be worried about it. But we’re in the same boat.
“There are a lot of lost mental reps, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more mistakes there, but hopefully not. We just have to be able to play through those things.”
The Sandhills Athletic Conference matchup between 4A Richmond (5-1, 2-0 SAC) and 3A Union Pines (1-5, 0-2 SAC) will be played at Raider Stadium, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
The originally scheduled game was supposed to be played at Union Pines. Ransom said the change in location was due to Union Pines not being able to host the game.
Wednesday’s meeting between the Raiders and Vikings will be the first time the two programs have ever met on the gridiron.
Richmond will now play three football games over the next 11 days.
Following the game against Union Pines, the Raiders will host Southern Lee High School on Tuesday, Oct. 12. That game is a make-up from Sept. 17 when the Cavaliers (0-5, 0-2 SAC) were following COVID-19 protocols.
It will also be recognized as Richmond’s homecoming game.
Because of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s rule requiring three days of rest between games, Richmond will then play Lee County High School on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. at home.
“The reason we’re on a Tuesday and Saturday to begin with is because the state says you have to have three days between games,” Till explained. “If we pushed (Union Pines) to Saturday, that would mess up the Tuesday and Saturday games.
“If we would have played (Union Pines) on our bye week, we’d have had to push that game all the way to Wednesday. There were too many dominoes, and if we got the game in this week, nothing else would change for either team.”
Tickets for Wednesday’s game will be available at the gate, and the Richmond athletics department is in the process of updating the GoFan.co website to accommodate the schedule change.
This is a developing story. The Richmond Observer will update it as more information becomes available.
