ROCKINGHAM – The Richmond Raider junior varsity football team finished last season undefeated at 10-0 and champions of the newly formed Sandhills Atheltic Conference.
And for second-year head coach Patrick Hope, the goal every year is to win every time his team lines up on Thursday, but more importantly, to teach the players at the junior varsity level how to win.
“On a weekly basis, it takes three days of focus and learning a new game plan and executing on Thursday night,” he said.Â
Hope’s squad this year had lost several key players from last season’s team due to them moving up to varsity. Although it’s a good problem to have, he’ll need to replace them, beginning in the backfield where Lacyrus Ellerbe and CJ Tillman are gone.
“At running back, we have two capable guys who will share the workload running the ball,” said Hope. “Jaron Coleman and Daveion Campbell have running styles that play off each other. Jaron is a fast, shifty back with great vision and footwork, while Campbell is a powerful runner when he plays fast.”
Handing the ball off to the running backs last year was starting quarterback Noah Altman, who this year is on the varsity team serving as the backup to Caleb Hood. It’s Hood’s brother Kellan Hood who will be under center on Thursdays.
“My expectations are high for Kellan, and he has high expectations for himself. He has a very high football IQ to be a young quarterback,” said the head coach. “Everyone knows who his brother is, but people are going to be just as amazed watching Kellan as they are Caleb.”
Of course, Kellan Hood is going to need receivers to throw to, and Jakolbe Baldwin, who lined up on the outside last year, has also moved up. Hope said his team has that position covered, too.
“We are fortunate to have receivers who have worked with the varsity all summer in Tremel Jones and Jarod Morrison,” said Hope. “They played in every 7-on-7 this summer, and have added a lot to their respective games. Jaheim Harrington has also looked good at receiver, as well.”
Hope was quoted last year as saying, “a big key to our success all season has been our offensive line,” and he echoed those thoughts for this year.Â
“You can’t have any success offensively unless you have a great offensive line. Kevin Alfonso does a great job of teaching technique, scheme and toughness to our young guys,” Hope bragged about his line coach and players. “We are also big, as the average weight of the starting five is about 260 pounds. We will rely on them to take over games and dominate as defenses get tired.”
With an offense ready to go, Hope will also have to rely on extra points, field goals and starting field position for opposing teams. Former kicker Trevor Moss, much like his other teammates, has moved on to varsity, but Mack West will step in as the team’s kicking specialist.
“He has a strong leg and is also accurate. He will be just as valuable to us as Trevor was, as special teams and field position will help us win a lot of games,” Hope said.Â
Starting the season with Wake Forest High School again, Richmond needed a late-game touchdown and extra point last year to hand the Cougars their first loss since October of 2015.Â
“Wake Forest has had a lot of success, playing in five state titles this decade. You don’t have that kind of success without kids developing at the middle school and JV levels,” Hope said of the upcoming opponent. “Thursday we want to set the tone for how the week is going to go against them. It was a great back and forth game, and we’re expecting the same this week.”
Richmond used a stout defense and creating turnovers to their advantage a lot last year, something Hope is relying on not only Thursday but all season long.
“The defense we had last year was a stingy and physical group. They only allowed about six points per game last year,” said Hope. “We will be young on defense, but we’ll be athletic, and if they play hard every down, that will balance out their youth as the season goes on.”
Looking once again at Thursday’s game, if the Raiders are able to beat Wake Forest again, it could create some positive momentum moving forward. Hope said you can’t go 10-0 if you don’t win game one.
“We have a lot of momentum already going into the season,” the coach added. “They have worked hard for 10 months to get ready for the season, and 37 out of 42 players made the required amount of days this summer, 30 of them making the 100 percent club. So a lot has been invested, and we expect a big return on the investment.”
As for the rest of the Sandhills Athletic Conference, Hope said the other JV teams are tough and will all be trying to knock Richmond off.
“We prepare to take a team’s best shot, then stand tall and find a way to win,” he said. “We’ll learn more about other JV teams as we play them.”
Finally, Hope’s squad played by a mantra or code last year called, “L.I.T.,” which stood for “loyal, intense and tough.” When asked if the team was following something different this year, Hope said you have to finish what you start.
“It will be used again to remind players how we are going to go about this season one game at a time,” Hope concluded. “We are going to take pride in being the opening act for the varsity every week and getting our guys ready to be the main attraction in the future.”
