SANFORD — A career night from junior quarterback Domonic Tillman, with some help from a host of wide receivers, the Richmond Raider football team won big Friday.
One step closer to winning the outright crown of the Sandhills Athletic Conference, the Raiders clinched at least a share of the title with their win over Lee County High School.
Using an aerial attack and an effective screen game, Richmond stung the Yellow Jackets by a final score of 48-21, its sixth straight win.
The victory also guaranteed Richmond will return to the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs, as the Raiders secured the SAC’s automatic 4A berth.
Tillman took the majority of reps under center Friday. Fellow junior quarterback Evan Hodges, as a precaution due to a lower body injury, didn’t play.
Hitting four different receivers, Tillman threw a single-game career-high five touchdowns. All of them came in the first half, which gave Richmond a 34-7 lead at the intermission.
Pulling in two touchdown receptions was junior receiver Jayden Hamilton, who turned screens into long touchdown runs. Juniors Daylyn Robinson and Keonta Pegues, along with senior Nicholas Griggs, each caught one score.
The Raiders’ two second-half touchdowns were courtesy of senior running back Joseph Patterson and junior linebacker Jason Gainey.
Richmond possessed the ball five times in the first half and found the end zone each time. The Raider defense forced a punt, a turnover on downs and had an interception on three of Lee County’s four drives.
On the opening series, Richmond went 69 yards on 12 plays to take an early lead. Using the screen pass early and often, Tillman made three completions, including a 28-yard pass to junior receiver Amer Morrison to get across midfield.
A pair of runs by senior running back Javion Smith put Richmond in the red zone. On third-and-goal from the nine-yard line, Denson dug into his bag of tricks.
Tillman made a completion to Hamilton in the left flat, who lateraled the ball back to Robinson, who is an offensive tackle. Sweeping the left edge, the big man barreled his way toward the end zone and extended across the goal line with 5:25 left in the first quarter.
Senior kicker Billy West, who made four of his five tries in the first half, kicked the point-after attempt to put Richmond up 7-0.
Lee County’s first series crossed into Richmond territory but quarterback sacks on Jack Martin by senior nose tackle Tate Simpson and junior linebacker Terande Spencer led to a punt.
Taking over at the Richmond 34-yard line after a short kick, the Raiders took just two plays to score again.
Tillman found Pegues this time on a screen to the left. Turning up the field, Pegues powered on the jets to race the remaining distance down the left sideline on the 66-yard catch and run.
West’s PAT increased the lead to 14-0 with 5.4 seconds left in the first stanza.
The Yellow Jackets visited the red zone on their next series but came away empty. Senior defensive back Chris Covington disrupted a pass in the end zone and senior linebacker K’Mauri Morgan made a tackle out of bounds short of the line to gain on fourth down.
Getting the ball back at his own 20-yard line, Tillman made two completions to Pegues on consecutive plays to move the ball to the Lee County 41-yard line.
On the third play of the drive, another screen from Tillman was caught by Hamilton. Slipping into open space, Hamilton mirrored Pegues’ touchdown a few plays earlier, hustling down the left sideline untouched.
With 6:56 to go in the first half, West was good again to put Richmond ahead 21-0.
Lee County scored its only points in the half on the next drive. Martin threw a 24-yard touchdown to Jayden Hill, who caught the ball with one hand with 2:16 on the clock.
Earlier in the drive, Lee County running back Rahshaun Brown appeared to throw a punch to the helmet of senior linebacker Joe Parsons at the end of a play. But the officials called offsetting penalties despite an argument from Denson.
Going 71 yards on seven plays on their next series, the Raiders regained a three-possession lead. Completions to Morrison and Pegues led to a 39-yard touchdown pass from Tillman to Hamilton — on another screen.
West built the lead to 28-7 with his PAT. With 13.2 seconds remaining in the second, Richmond wasn’t done scoring.
Putting a nickel package in on defense on Lee County’s final drive of the half, Hamilton intercepted a pass on the first snap, his first of the season.
Taking over at the Yellow Jackets’ 33-yard line with 2.6 ticks on the clock, Tillman aired out his final touchdown pass as time expired.
Hitting his target in stride in the end zone, Tillman dropped a dandy to Griggs, who made a contested catch with both feet in bounds.
A low snap prevented West from staying perfect on PATs, but Richmond entered the break up 27 points.
Richmond’s defense, which stayed camped out in Lee County’s backfield all night, helped keep the momentum going to start the third quarter.
Simpson forced a fumble on the Yellow Jacket’s second play of the series, which was scooped up by senior defensive end Zach Gardner at the opponent’s 27-yard line.
That takeaway, the first of two fumble recoveries in the final two quarters, paved the way to another score.
Continuing its string of consecutive drives with a touchdown, Richmond moved that number to six. Five plays into the drive, Patterson finessed his way into the end zone along the right edge from four yards out.
One of a handful of running backs to carry the ball Friday, Patterson recorded his first career varsity score.
West got back in rhythm with the PAT to extend the lead to 41-7 with 8:02 to go in the third.
Morgan, who had numerous quarterback sacks in the win, registered one on the ensuing series that led to another punt. West had to punt the ball for the first time on the next drive and pinned Lee County (4-4, 1-3 SAC) at its own eight-yard line.
That kick led to the Raiders’ final score, which came courtesy of the defense. On third down, Parsons bulldozed his way into the backfield and forced the ball loose near the goal line.
Gainey, who was rushing off the right edge, picked up the ball in the end zone for the easy six points. One final PAT from West gave Richmond its largest lead of the game, 48-7, with 11:10 to play in regulation.
With Denson turning to his substitutions the remainder of the game, the Yellow Jackets scored twice more.
Brown had a four-yard run and Martin connected with Hill on a 49-yard score following busted coverage.
Junior Caden Nolan entered the game at quarterback for Richmond, and with the help of Patterson and junior Christian Everette, moved the sticks to wind out the remaining 3:39.
Still the lone undefeated team in the SAC standings, Richmond (7-2, 5-0 SAC) now enters its much-anticipated bye week.
Following the off week, the Raiders will close the door on their regular season with a home game and senior night Nov. 1 against Scotland High School.
The Fighting Scots (3-4, 2-1 SAC) and head coach Richard Bailey lost their second game in a row Friday, falling to Pinecrest High School 43-36.
Richmond and Scotland will kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of Richmond’s road win over Lee County later this weekend.
Sports editor’s note: Official stats and game totals were not available at the time of publication.
