Home Local Sports Raiders earn second shutout in three games with 31-0 win at Pinecrest

Raiders earn second shutout in three games with 31-0 win at Pinecrest

Seniors Nate Hudson (32) and Divine Nicholson (56) wrap up Corey Patterson in Friday's 31-0 Richmond victory.
Photo courtesy of Jimmy McDonald.

SOUTHERN PINES – In what has been a month of irregularities for the Richmond Senior High School varsity football program because of Hurricane Florence, normalcy was restored during Friday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference opener at Pinecrest High School.

Perhaps the only regularity the No. 6 Raiders have found in the month of September has been winning football games, as their 31-0 thrashing over the Patriots notched their second win of the month after having one game postponed due to the storm.

By keeping Pinecrest out of the end zone, it was the 10th time in the storied rivalry that Richmond has shut out the Patriots. It was also head coach Bryan Till’s team’s second shutout of the season, as it blanked Pine Forest High School 28-0 on Aug. 31.

Another common occurrence has been the Raiders (4-1, 1-0 SAC) taking care of business against the Patriots (3-2, 0-1 SAC). Since Pinecrest head coach Chris Metzger’s tenure began in 2007, Richmond has won all but two of the games, with Friday’s 31-point blowout coming as the largest margin of victory for the Raiders since 2010 (44 points).

“I’m really proud of all of our guys tonight,” Till said following the win. “They have talked all week about wanting to get the shutout. The first time, I put that in front of them and told them they could do it. When it comes to tonight, it was all our guys — and of course you don’t want to deter that enthusiasm.

“We played a really good quality football team tonight,” he added. “Our guys had so much pride when they made some goal-line stands and big plays inside the 20 (yard line). The big thing was those guys coming back drive after drive.”

Friday’s contest between the neighboring county schools promised an explosive offensive showing on paper, as heading into the night, it featured the SAC’s top passer in Richmond’s sophomore quarterback Caleb Hood, as well as the top rusher in Pinecrest’s senior running back Zaythan Hill.

Playing real football for the first time since it upset No. 4 Butler High School 30-19 on Sept. 7, the Raiders offense held true to its form, as it racked up 361 yards of total offense to Pinecrest’s 192 yards of total offense. Richmond scored on its first five possessions, before punting on its last two.

Hood completed 10-of-18 passes for 201 yards, and connected with a total of five different receivers for three touchdowns. The quarterback also used his legs efficiently to extend drives, as he scrambled for 49 yards on seven carries. On the season, Hood has 911 passing yards on 53 completions, and is averaging 182.2 yards per game. He’s thrown nine touchdowns to his one interception.

“Pinecrest was playing so far back (on defense), so we had to throw underneath of them,” Till explained of the passing success. “We were able to run some routes of of sets and get some one-on-one matchups. If we could get those matchups, that was big for us — and so were our screen passes.”

Also having a big night for the Raiders was junior tailback Jaheim Covington, as he recorded a game-high 93 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown.

Sophomore wide receiver Jakolbe Baldwin (4) had two receiving touchdowns Friday.

Thanks to a Raider defense that has been suffocating over the current three-game winning streak, the team’s first since October of last year, Richmond stunted every Pinecrest effort during the game.

Entering the night, Hill and the Patriots’ running game was averaging 260.3 yards per game, but the Richmond defense slashed that total by over half, as the bulk of Pinecrest’s offense came on its 125 rushing yards. Hill finished the night with just 66 rushing yards on 15 carries. The Raiders also allowed Pinecrest to convert on just three of its nine third-down opportunities.

After Richmond deferred the ball to the second half, the Raider defense flashed its power on the opening drive, as it forced Pinecrest to punt the ball for the first of two times on the night. On the Patriots’ other six offensive drives, they turned it over twice on downs, twice at the end of a quarter, had a field goal blocked and lost a fumble.

An illegal substitution penalty by Richmond put Pinecrest at the Raiders’ 40-yard line, and two false starts by the Patriots led to a Greg Vansteen fumbled snap, which the Patriot quarterback recovered for a loss of eight yards. Richmond junior defensive end Javon Little picked up the team’s only sack of the night on the next play, forcing the punt.

“I think we came out pretty strong tonight on defense,” senior linebacker Trevor Whittington said of the defense’s second shutout in three games. “Coach Till told us that we didn’t have any rust (from the break) and we were really fresh tonight. It’s good to beat Pinecrest.”

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After a short kick, and getting the ball at the Pinecrest 47-yard line, Hood captained a seven-play drive that resulted in sophomore kicker Trevor Moss splitting the uprights from 38 yards out to give the visiting team a 3-0 lead with 3:39 to go in the opening quarter.

Richmond offensive coordinator Brad Denson wasted no time in getting his team back in the end zone, as this time the Raiders went 54 yards on nine plays, resulting in Covington’s only score of the night. On third-and-10, Covington took the handoff and found a hole in the line before bursting ahead down the right side of the field, cutting just inside the right pile on for the 33-yard score.

With 9:52 left in the second quarter, the Raiders held a 10-0 lead and were just getting started.

The Patriots would enter the red zone only two times all night, and the first opportunity came on their first drive of the second quarter. After a series of runs set Pinecrest up inside the Richmond 10-yard line, the Raider defense forced a short field goal attempt. The 23-yard attempt was low, and Richmond’s Zyier Baldwin and D’Marcus Harrington were credited with blocking the kick.

The only other time Pinecrest would get within close proximity of the end zone was early in the third quarter as a 41-yard hook up between Vansteen and Georgio Njam made it first-and-goal at the Raider five-yard line. But three straight running plays were stopped by the Raiders, and Vansteen connected with Alexander Roberts on fourth down, but Taveon Ellerbe and Baldwin teamed up to stop him at the one-yard line.

Something Till has said his team has worked on lately is its two-minute drill, and it came in handy in the closing moments of the first half. After the blocked field goal, Hood and company took over at the Pinecrest 20-yard line with 1:46 before the recess.

The Raiders only needed 1:21 of that time to extend their lead to 17-0, as Hood went to work, completing five passes to five different receivers on the drive. He hit Jordyn Wall for a 16-yard gain on the first play, before connecting with Bobby Terry on a 19-yard pickup over the middle.

Consecutive completions to Preston Coker (13 yards) and Dalton Stroman (12 yards) set up a 10-yard touchdown pass to a diving sophomore wide receiver Jakolbe Baldwin a couple of plays later with 25 seconds remaining in the half. It was his first of two scores on the night.

In the final 24 minutes of play, the Raiders would tack on two more scores, starting with their opening drive of the third quarter. Going 68 yards in just six plays, Hood zipped a strike from the Pinecrest 44-yard line to Jakolbe Baldwin, who was cutting across the middle of the field. Catching the ball at the 26-yard line, Baldwin juked a couple of defenders before muscling his way into the end zone.

The game’s last scoring play came with 11:48 to go in the fourth quarter, as Hood scrambled out to his left and lobbed an off-balanced throw to Stroman. The sophomore receiver took the pass and burned several opponents as he charged down the sideline for a 49-yard score, the longest play for either team during the game.

Hood, Jakolbe Baldwin and Stroman are all sophomores, and for the second straight game, all three of them had standout performances. Stroman nabbed three receptions and had a game-high 75 receiving yards. Baldwin, who now leads the team with four touchdown receptions and entered the night as the SAC’s leading receiver, reeled in two catches for 54 yards. Senior Jordyn Wall also had a big night, as he picked up 40 receiving yards on three catches.

“The sophomores could have had an even bigger night than they did,” Till observed from his young core of skill position players. “Jakolbe had a couple of passes ripped away from him. But all credit to them for the big plays they did make — I’m so proud of the night they had and they’re so comfortable with each other and it makes it so easy for them to connect.”

“At first it was tough tonight because I was off on some throws,” Hood noted. “But then we got to refocus and I was able to hook up with some of the guys. Tonight didn’t feel like a rivalry game — we were able to finish things off with a win. Right now we’re focused on finishing the season strong.”

Junior free safety Dereck Barringer put the exclamation point on the game for the Raiders when he scooped up a Roberts fumble, returning it 39 yards to the Pinecrest 36-yard line. At that time, Till replaced Hood with junior backup quarterback Noah Altman.

Hoping that no further unforeseen issues complicate their schedule, the Raiders will be back in action next Friday against Jack Britt High School. Richmond will host the Buccaneers (2-4, 1-1 SAC) in hopes of avenging a 41-20 loss from last season on the road. Jack Britt defeated Lumberton High School 15-14 in quadruple overtime on Friday.

“It feels good to be 4-1 at this point in the season,” Till concluded. “I’m going to enjoy this tonight and start breaking down Jack Britt. That game sticks in my craw a lot — that game is important to me. We didn’t play our best ball there last year, and I’m responsible for that.”

Kickoff for next week against the Buccaneers is set for 7:30 p.m. at Raider Stadium.



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.