CHAPEL HILL — A rematch against a recent playoff opponent is slated for the Richmond Senior High School football team.
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association released its finalized playoff brackets Saturday afternoon, as the Raiders earned the No. 18 seed in the 4A East.
That will put the Raiders on the road in the first round for the second straight season, this time at No. 15 Leesville Road High School.
The Raiders and the Pride last met in the second round of the 2021 state playoffs, which resulted in a loss for then No. 1 Richmond to No. 16 Leesville Road.
Winning five of their final six games, the Raiders put an exclamation point on their regular season on Friday with a 35-28 win over 3A rival Scotland High School.
After starting the fall 0-4, Richmond and head coach Bryan Till rallied to finish in second place of the Sandhills Athletic Conference standings.
The NCHSAA uses a team’s Ratings Performance Index (RPI) to help determine playoff seeding. The Raiders (0.58679) had the 29th best RPI in 4A (East and West combined), while the Pride (0.59847) were the 23rd best.
This season, Leesville Road and head coach Ben Kolstad went 8-2 overall and took second place in the CAP 6 Conference with a 4-1 mark.
A common opponent between the Raiders and Pride is Cardinal Gibbons High School (8-2, 5-0 CAP 6), which defeated Leesville Road 33-23 in Friday’s season finale.
Of the Pride’s eight wins this season, only two have come against a team with at least a .500 record (Athens Drive and Overhills high schools). The rest of their opponents have combined for a 22-38 record.
All five of Richmond’s losses — Seventy-First, Butler, Cardinal Gibbons, Myers Park and Pinecrest — were against teams that won their conference title and made the playoffs.
Kickoff for the first round playoff game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday at Leesville Road, which is located in Raleigh.
The Richmond Observer will publish a full playoff preview later this week.
