ROCKINGHAM — When the Richmond Raider football team was a game under .500 three weeks into the season, head coach Brad Denson and the coaching staff posed a challenge.
To win out the rest of the season.
That objective came to fruition for the Raiders Friday, who won their seventh game in a row and won the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship.
Back on top for the first time since 2021, the Raiders silenced an otherwise explosive Scotland High School team, defeating the Fighting Scots 30-6.
Winning the matchup with Scotland for the fifth time in the last six meetings, the Raiders notched their third victory of at least 24 points during that span.
Denson credited the Richmond defense for its shutdown play, which kept Scotland off the scoreboard until the closing six minutes of regulation. Entering the game, the Fighting Scots were averaging 34.4 points per contest.
The Raiders scored twice through the air, twice on the ground and sandwiched a field goal in between. Richmond also had the game’s only defensive takeaway, a second-half fumble recovery.
Scotland started the night with the momentum in its favor, driving into Richmond territory. But the first of a couple first-half stops by the Raiders’ defense resulted in a field goal attempt.
From 42 yards, the kick had the distance but was wide left.
The Raiders’ first drive ended in a blocked punt following a high snap, giving the Scots the ball at the Richmond 17-yard line.
But a quick three-and-out by the defense ended in a horde of tacklers making a fourth-down stop to give the Raiders possession at their own 10-yard line.
Going 90 yards on nine plays, the Raiders would take the lead for good on the ensuing series. Senior running back Jordan Bostick had a 42-yard run on the third play of the drive to get inside the Scotland 30-yard line.
On third-and-goal from the four-yard line, Denson used some trickery to score. Junior quarterback Evan Hodges took the snap and pitched it right to Bostick, who threw a touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Amer Morrison.
Making a one-handed grab and getting a foot inbounds, Morrison hauled in his first career touchdown catch and made it 6-0 with 44 seconds left in the first quarter. Richmond’s two-point conversion attempt was no good.
Getting the ball back after a Fighting Scots’ punt, the third of five failed drives in the first half, Richmond capitalized again, this time off the foot of senior kicker Billy West.
Starting at their own 40-yard line, the Raiders moved across midfield on a screen pass to junior wide receiver Jayden Hamilton from junior quarterback Domonic Tillman.
A 12-yard completion from Tillman to junior tiger back Caden Nolan got Richmond down to the five-yard line.
Unable to find the end zone, West was called on for a 24-yard field goal, which he made with 9:04 to go in the half.
Leading 9-0, Richmond would hold that lead until halftime. The defense forced another punt and stalled the Fighting Scots at the two-yard line.
After Scotland managed to get inside the 10-yard line, Richmond made four straight stops. Junior defensive end Jordan Hamilton had a tackle-for-loss on first down.
On third down, junior linebacker Terande Spencer pulled a ball carrier down short of the end zone. Going for it on fourth down, Scotland quarterback Ji’San McPhatter’s pass attempt was swatted at the line by Spencer with five seconds left in the half.
To begin the second half, both teams punted. The Raiders, however, would seize the momentum on their second drive and not look back.
A 12-play, 74-yard scoring march was highlighted by a 30-yard pass from Hodges down the right sideline that was pulled in by diving senior wide receiver Keyonta Davis.
Four plays later, Hodges dropped a perfect pass to junior wideout Keonta Pegues, who pulled in the wide-open touchdown grab from 23 yards.
West’s first of three made PATs made it 16-0 with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter.
Three plays into their next drive, the Fighting Scots continued to crumble when Spencer forced a fumble. There to collect the ball at the Scotland 40-yard line was senior defensive end Zach Gardner.
As the game clock rolled over into the final stanza, Richmond needed only five plays to score again.
Hamilton made a 47-yard gain on a reverse to get inside the 10-yard line. Bostick extended the lead with a direct snap and rushing score from five yards out two plays later.
West was good again between the uprights, giving Richmond a 23-0 advantage.
Scotland (5-5, 3-3 SAC) scored a desperation touchdown on fourth down on its next series. One play after Spencer recorded his third sack of the game, McPhatter connected with Quatavius Everette for a passing score.
Senior defensive back Chris Covington broke up the two-point try while Spencer applied pressure on McPhatter.
Pegues recovered the onside kick attempt and gave Richmond a short field for its final touchdown drive.
This time needing just two snaps to find the end zone, Bostick started with a 38-yard dash to get to the Scotland 13-yard line.
Sophomore running back Chance Crowder, who helped move the sticks all game, rounded the right edge and stayed inbounds for a 13-yard rushing score on the next play.
West’s final PAT made it 30-6, Richmond’s largest lead of the game with 4:59 to play.
Denson called in the subs and the defense held Scotland to minimal yards for the rest of the game.
With the conclusion of the regular season, the Raiders finished with an 8-2 overall record, having won their last seven games.
In Denson’s first season, Richmond collected three more regular-season victories than last year and won its first conference title since 2021.
Against SAC opponents, Richmond went a perfect 6-0, the first time that has also happened since its last conference crown. The Raiders outscored SAC teams 226-69 this fall.
Earning the SAC’s automatic 4A playoff berth and a first-round playoff game, Richmond will await the NCHSAA’s release of playoff brackets Nov. 10. At the time of publication, the Raiders were ranked No. 5 in the 4A East’s RPI standings (0.65912).
The Richmond Observer will publish photo galleries of the Raiders win, football and cheerleading senior night, as well as band and color guard senior night Saturday.
Sports editor’s note: No official statistics were available at the time of publication.
