ROCKINGHAM — In the past, bye weeks in November meant a team had secured a guaranteed trip to the second round of the state playoffs.
While that’s not necessarily the case this season for the Richmond Senior High School football team, the Raiders have spent the past three days gearing up for their playoff run.
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association extended the regular season by a week to allow teams in the western part of the state time to finish their schedule.
Many teams, like Richmond, wrapped up their 10-game slate last week and have had a down week to prepare for the postseason.
First-year head coach Brad Denson compared the unprecedented bye week to a double-edged sword.
“You can look at this bye week both ways,” Denson said after Thursday’s practice. “We’ve still got some bangs and bruises, and this gives those guys a chance to get as completely healthy as they can this late in the season.
“Staying crisp and keeping our competitive edge was the big focus for us this week. We’ve had a good week of practice with a new install here or there, but nothing major. We just want the guys to stay ready.”
Now more than 11 weeks since they kicked off the season at Seventy-First High School, the Raiders have had to battle late-season fatigue with unexpected added time after a wave of momentum that has seen the team win seven straight games.
To help spur the team’s energy, Thursday’s practice was a combination of position group workouts followed by game situation drills and a little competitive fun.
While simulating game-like scenarios, the Raiders operated a two-minute drill that put the top players on both sides of the ball against one another.
“Today we did a good-on-good period and we normally don’t do that during the season,” Denson explained. “I expected it to get chippy and it kind of did. But it was a good 10-15 minute period that allowed the guys to get competitive.”
To close out practice, two competitions were held, which both involved kicking drills and non-kicking players.
First, members of the offensive and defensive lines shagged punts from Denson. That was followed by players kicking field goals. The offense won both competitions with junior Andre Anthony splitting the uprights to seal the field goal challenge.
While the Raiders don’t know exactly which other 4A team it will play to start the postseason, Denson said the week was spent preparing for all possibilities.
“To prepare, we practiced against both types of fronts — an odd and an even front,” Denson said. “Luckily our defense plays both of them and I told Coach (Chris) Campo(lieta) for the defense to give us three and four-man fronts and then mix them together today.
“That allowed our offense to decipher both fronts. For our defense, we threw a lot of what we do out on the practice field and I feel like if they can play against that, then they should be fine against whoever else we play.”
At the end of practice Thursday, Denson’s message to the team was clear.
“We have all the ability in the world to make a run at a state championship,” he said. “This is now a one-game season and there is no ‘next week’ guaranteed. If you look around, most of these coaches have made several runs at a state championship and they will tell you it was the best time of their lives.
“I don’t know who we’ll play against next week and I don’t care who it is,” he concluded. “But whoever it is, they have to come here Friday. And we have to be focused completely between the ears to play six more weeks of football.”
The Raiders (8-2) secured the SAC 4A automatic berth and will host a first-round playoff game Friday, Nov. 15. The NCHSAA is set to release its finalized brackets Sunday.
The Richmond Observer will publish a playoff preview once more information is made available next week.
