ROCKINGHAM — For the first time since 2015, the Richmond Senior High School varsity football team has advanced to the third round of the NCHSAA 4AA state playoffs.
After dismantling Ronald Reagan High School 49-7 Friday in the second round, Richmond’s first game following a first-round bye, the No. 2 Raiders will welcome in No. 6 Myers Park High School on Friday, Nov. 30.
With No. 1 Mallard Creek High School’s upset loss to No. 8 Hough High School in the second round, head coach Bryan Till’s Raiders are the highest remaining seed in the West Bracket, which secures home-field advantage the rest of the way for Richmond.
Myers Park (12-1, Charlotte, N.C.) upset No. 3 David W. Butler High School 33-8 to arrange its meeting with Richmond. This marks the fourth time since 2008 that Richmond will compete in the third round of the playoffs.
“They are obviously one of the top teams in state because they’re in the third round of the playoffs,” Till commented. “Myers Park is a very talented group of football players, and they have nine kids on the team with NFL ties.
“I don’t think the seeding matters at this point because they beat Butler 33-8,” he added when asked about Myers Park’s run. “ It wasn’t a situation where it was a tight ball game, and they probably could have scored a couple more points. We know what we’re getting into.”
The 42-point win for the Raiders etched their 10th-straight victory in stone, as winning has been something they’ve accomplished in every game since losing in Week 2 to Wake Forest High School on Aug. 24. The Mustangs, coached by Scott Chadwick, are on a six-game winning streak, but two of those wins came via a forfeit against two programs that were forced by the NCHSAA to give up games following in-game fighting.
While the playoffs are a different breed of competition, Deon Cranford, ROSpors contributor did some fact digging and came up with some numbers that could make the difference in seeing Richmond return to the regional championship round for the first time since 2008, the last time the Raiders won a 4AA state title.
Cranford reports that Richmond is 3-1 all-time against the Mustangs, and the last time the two teams meet was in the third round of the 2005 state playoffs. While that was almost literally a lifetime ago for this group of Richmond football players, No. 12 Myers Park upset an undefeated No. 1 Richmond team 22-13.
But the numbers get better.
Richmond is coming off its third-largest margin of victory in the second round of the playoffs in school history (42 points), and the Raider offense, led by sophomore quarterback Caleb Hood, seems to clicking on all cylinders.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Raider defense is allowing just 10.8 points per game this season, the program’s lowest total since giving up 7.38 points per game in 2006. It’s also coming off a season-high three turnover performance against Reagan, one of which was a pick-six for senior linebacker Jonathan Jones.
When comparing schedules, Richmond ranks near the top of 4A play with a strength of schedule of 26.7, while Myers Park’s ranking is a significantly lower 21.9. The Raiders have faced seven teams this fall with a record above the .500 mark, winning all of them except the Wake Forest game. Myers Park, on the other hand, has only faced two opponents with such a record, beating Butler once it two tries, and the other a 28-23 win over Porter Ridge High School.
Another interesting note Cranford dug up was that five of Richmond’s regular season opponents are in the third round of the 4AA or 4A playoffs (Pinecrest, Wake Forest, Seventy-First, Pine Forest and Scotland high schools).
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Raider Stadium. ROSports will publish a pregame story later this week with analysis and quotes from Till.
Sports editor Kyle Pillar and contributor Deon Cranford contributed to this article.
