ROCKINGHAM — Roster depth is an important factor when the postseason rolls around, and the Richmond Senior High School football team had its wealth of talent on full display Friday.
Beginning the North Carolina High School Athletic Assiciation 4A East state playoffs, the No. 4 Raiders earned their first postseason victory since 2021.
Also hosting a playoff game for the first time since that same season, Richmond used its elusive and forceful ground attack to defeat No. 29 Topsail High School 42-6.
The Raiders started the scoring early and often, and by the final whistle, a total of six different players had found the end zone for a rushing touchdown. Senior kicker Billy West also finished with six points, converting all six of his extra-point attempts.
Scoring a rushing touchdown Friday (in order) were junior Jayden Hamilton, senior Jordan Bostick, juniors Domonic Tillman and Keonta Pegues, sophomore Chance Crowder and senior Javion Smith.
After the game, Brad Denson congratulated the team on its playoff win, which was also his first as a head coach. He also talked about getting “the first one out of the way,” alluding to the playoff victory drought that had spanned the past two years.
Richmond’s defense did its part in the win, nearly recording its first shutout of the season save for one miscue on special teams. With the game well out of reach early in the second half, the defense also showcased its depth with a pair of late-game fumble recoveries.
The first of Richmond’s four consecutive scoring drives to start the game was an 11-play, 81 yard march. With junior quarterback Evan Hodges under center, a completion to Pegues, coupled with a late hit out of bounds, moved the ball near midfield.
Bostick extended the drive by taking a direct snap a few plays later on fourth-and-one to get down to the Pirates’ 24-yard line.
Four snaps later, Hamilton took a handoff on a jet sweep and curled around the right edge for a 16-yard score.
West split the uprights for the first of four times in the opening two quarters to give Richmond a 7-0 lead just over four minutes into the game.
Topsail’s offense didn’t have an answer to Richmond’s suffocating defense. The Pirates punted on three of their five drives in the first half, went three-and-out on its first series and also threw an interception.
The Richmond defense limited Topsail to just 89 yards of offense in the first half.
Following the Pirates’ punt on their first drive, the Raiders began their second scoring drive at their own 5-yard line. Needing just five plays to find the end zone, Hodges connected with junior wide receiver Amer Morrison for a 52-yard catch and run to get to the opponent’s 23-yard line.
A 15-yard completion from Hodges to Hamilton on the next play set up Bostick’s rushing touchdown on the following snap. Taking the handoff, Bostick found a hole between the guard and tackle for an easy eight-yard rush.
West made it 14-0 with 3:43 left in the opening stanza.
Junior defensive end Jordan Hamilton sacked quarterback Eli Hebron to start the next defensive set for Richmond. A near interception by senior defensive back Chris Covington led to a punt attempt.
A high snap resulted in senior defensive back AJ Covington making the tackle well behind the line of scrimmage to set up the Richmond offense at Topsail’s 21-yard line.
Like clockwork, the Raiders’ rushing attack made its third trip to paydirt three snaps later on the first play of the second quarter.
Tillman made a good decision to keep the ball on a read-option and slid right and untouched into the end zone for a two-yard rushing score.
Just four seconds into the second quarter, West built the lead to 21-0.
Another punt by Topsail, which finished the season with a 4-6 overall record, yielded another long but efficient scoring drive for the Raiders.
Starting at its own 30-yard line, a 16-yard run by Tillman was followed two plays later with a 28-yard completion to senior wide receiver Keyonta Davis to get to the Pirates’ 26-yard line.
Pegues did the rest of the work on the four-play scoring drive, mirroring Hamilton’s touchdown earlier in the game, but this time with the sweep going to the left side from 26 yards out.
Adding the final point of the half was West on the PAT, making it 28-0 with 8:03 on the clock, which held until halftime.
Richmond’s final splash defensive play of the first half resulted in its first of three takeaways. Junior edge rusher Terande Spencer intercepted a pass attempt by Hebron at the Richmond 40-yard line.
Spencer returned the pick all the way to the end zone, but a block in the back penalty negated the defensive score.
Topsail’s only sign of productivity during the game came on the opening kickoff of the second half. Josiah Sidbury caught West’s kickoff and returned it 85 yards to the end zone for the Pirates’ only points of the game.
Covington burst through the line on the PAT attempt and blocked it, preserving a 28-6 advantage for Richmond with just 13 seconds gone in the third quarter.
The next possession for each team resulted in a punt. Helping set up Topsail’s punt were quarterback sacks by senior linebacker K’Mauri Morgan and junior linebacker Jason Gainey.
While he became the fifth Raider rusher to score Friday, Crowder recorded the longest touchdown of the game three plays into Richmond’s second third-quarter drive.
Taking a handoff from Tillman, Crowder turned on the afterburners up the middle of the field and to the left sideline for an 80-yard rushing touchdown.
West’s PAT with 6:25 on the third-quarter clock made it a 35-6 lead.
The game’s scoring came to an end on Richmond’s next possession, which started late in the third quarter and rolled over into the fourth.
Going 76 yards on nine plays and overcoming a handful of penalties, the Raiders gave the ball to Smith, who rushed it in from 19 yards. Setting up the score was another long completion from
Hodges to Morrison, this one good for 28 yards.
One final kick down the middle of the posts from West added to Richmond’s lead, 42-6, with 11:19 to play.
Smith’s six points helped achieve a program milestone, which eclipsed 20K all-time points scored by Richmond. Dating back to its inaugural season in 1972, the Raiders have averaged a little more than 29 points per game.
With the team’s largest lead of the game,
Denson sent in reinforcements on both sides of the ball. Sophomore quarterback Collin Hill made his varsity debut and helped run the clock out on a couple of drives with the help of senior running back Joseph Patterson.
In the closing six minutes, sophomore linebacker Elijah Ingram and senior linebacker Amir Vaughan each scooped up a fumble recovery to thwart potential scores by the Pirates. It was both players’ first career varsity takeaway.
Advancing to the second round for the first time in three seasons, the Raiders (9-2) will get another home game next Friday.
Richmond will host No. 13 Clayton High School (10-1) at Raider Stadium.
The Comets defeated Corinth Holders High School 48-17 in the first round to set up their meeting with the Raiders. The last time the two teams met was in the 2019 regular season, a 48-2 win for the Raiders.
Clayton’s only loss this season was a 37-35 loss to No. 1 Cleveland High School.
Game time and ticket information will be published when it’s made available.
The Richmond Observer will publish photo galleries of the Raiders’ playoff win Saturday.
Sports editor’s note: Deon Cranford contributed to this article. No official statistics were available at the time of publication.
