ROCKINGHAM – The first full week of Richmond Senior High School’s football team is in the books, and with it comes the first scrimmage of the young season.
Hitting the road, the Raiders will travel to Cape Fear High School in Cumberland County Wednesday night to contest the Colts. With the first taste of legitimate playing time of the 2017 campaign, kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m.
Head coach Bryan Till, who spent time coaching at Cape Fear, sees the scrimmage as a way for him and his coaching staff to further examine the progress of the Raiders players. As he enters his first season at the helm for Richmond, Till brings with him a run-pass option that he hopes to see executed well in Wednesday’s scrimmage.
Fans in attendance can expect to see a plethora of formations and matchups on both offense and defense, with Till and his staff looking to see what’s working well and what issues need addressed.
“We are really going to use a good mixture of kids to see how they work together,” Till said. “We want to see who works best side-by-side, and who linebackers work best with in front of them.”
With expectations set high in hopes of returning the Raiders to state championship glory, Till feels his players are par for the course with where they need to be at this point in the season. Also with the obvious pressures from the community, Till believes his program is living up to the expectations.
“I like the fact that our coaches are holding a standard,” Till said. “Our kids are holding a standard (for themselves). And that’s huge. This has been everything I’ve expected.”
The format of Wednesday’s scrimmage will be a 55-minute running clock, where at the start, both teams’ first-team will face off against each other for 10 plays, then switch. The remaining time will be spent subbing players in and out on both sides of the ball in a regular game setting using “down and distance” situations. The only exception being the officials will be quick to whistle the play dead if a quarterback is left unprotected for the sake of preventing injuries.
Speaking of injuries, the Raiders have suffered some minor aches and sprains early on. Senior running back Dante Miller, as well as junior wide receiver/defensive back Jahyae Stanback, underwent oral surgery to have their wisdom teeth removed. Most concerning may be senior cornerback Sahmad Anderson’s absence, who “tweaked” his knee in practice. All three will not play against Cape Fear.
Also sitting out for the Raiders (non-injury related) will be junior offensive lineman Jake Ransom and senior wide receiver Jaleen Baldwin. All five players mentioned are returning starters, but Till wants these players, and others, to continue getting ready for the season opener Friday, August 18, 2017, against Ronald Reagan High School (Forsyth County).
