LAURINBURG — In true rivalry fashion, Friday’s regular-season finale was a back-and-forth battle that ended with an athletic touchdown catch in the final minutes.
The Richmond Raider football team closed its season with a 35-28 victory over 3A Sandhills Athletic Conference foe Scotland High School.
Extending their season-long winning streak to four games, the Raiders redeemed themselves from last season’s one-point loss to Scotland.
Head coach Bryan Till, who reminded his players after the game that “we don’t quit,” improved to 5-2 in the series since 2017.
A game that featured 28 straight points by the Raiders, followed by 21 consecutive points by the Fighting Scots, came down to Richmond’s penultimate possession in the fourth quarter.
With the score tied at 28 points, sophomore wide receiver Jayden Hamilton caught his lone reception of the game — but at no better time for the Raiders.
His 28-yard touchdown grab with 3:16 to play in the fourth quarter was a leaping catch made in front of defensive back Joshua Adams.
Tossing the game-winning throw was sophomore quarterback Domonic Tillman, who recorded a single-game career-high three passing scores. He finished 9-of-14 passing for 231 yards, also a personal best.
A low-scoring first half resulted in a 7-7 tie at the end of the second quarter. Both teams used offensive fireworks to combine for seven touchdowns in the final two quarters.
The Raiders’ defense proved to be a stopping power at the right times inside the red zone in the first half.
On Scotland’s opening drive, junior linebacker K’Mauri Morgan applied pressure on fourth-and-five at Richmond’s 15-yard line. That forced an errant pass attempt by quarterback Ji’san McPhatter, which was dropped by Quatavius Everette.
The Raiders’ opening drive resulted in a punt, as would their second series.
On their second possession, the Fighting Scots drove 71 yards on 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead with 8:21 left in the second quarter.
Running back Zay Jones (33 rushes, 167 yards) scored the first of his game-high four rushing touchdowns on third down from three yards. The point-after attempt was good.
Following another punt, Richmond’s defense made its second stop inside the red zone, shifting the momentum that would carry the rest of the way.
Facing first-and-goal from the nine-yard line, the Fighting Scots (8-2, 4-2 SAC) failed to score. On fourth down from the one-yard line, a host of Richmond defenders stopped McPhatter to force the turnover on downs.
The long field was no problem for the Raiders’ offense, which went into its hurry-up offense with 3:39 left in the first half.
Needing just eight plays, the Raiders matriculated the ball down the field and scored with seven ticks on the clock.
A 41-yard weaving run by senior running back Jaliel Green (17 carries, 154 yards), coupled with a 26-yard catch and run by senior wide receiver Javian Drake (four catches, 168 yards) along the visitor’s sideline, moved the sticks to the Scotland 21-yard line.
Two Green runs later made it first-and-goal from the nine-yard line. A defensive pass interference call on Adams on Drake in the end zone made it third-and-goal at the two-yard line with 14.3 seconds left.
One snap later, Tillman emerged from a collapsed pocket and moved up the middle to score. Junior kicker Billy West made it a new ball game with the successful PAT.
Scotland took the ensuing kickoff and took a knee to end the half.
Receiving the second-half kickoff, Richmond continued its string of 28 unanswered points that led to a 28-7 lead.
Needing just five plays to go 62 yards, the Raiders went ahead for the first time thanks to the first of two house calls between Tillman and Drake.
On third-and-seven from the Scotland 42-yard line, Tillman hit Drake in stride down the left sideline. Drake made the catch and regained his balance before outrunning a defensive back and diving into the end zone.
West, who was a perfect 5-for-5 on PATs, split the uprights to make it a 14-7 lead with 9:40 to go in the third quarter.
After Richmond’s defense forced a Scotland punt near midfield, the Raiders built onto their lead with a 90-yard scoring drive.
This time it only took three plays, as Tillman and Drake played deja vu on third-and-11 from the Raiders’ nine-yard line.
Drake, who had 101 yards after catch, caught a pass over the middle of the field at the Richmond 34-yard line. Bullying his way out of the grasp of a defensive back, Drake dashed the remaining 66 yards for his single-game personal best second receiving touchdown.
Following West’s PAT, Richmond led 21-7.
Capping the scoring stretch by the Raiders was junior defensive end Zach Gardner on the first play of Scotland’s next drive. With the pocket breaking down around McPhatter, who was moving to his left, he threw a pass right to Gardner.
Making the interception at the Scotland 30-yard line, Gardner used an open field and a wall of blockers to go all the way to the end zone. It was his first pick-six of his career.
Another West PAT extended Richmond’s lead to its largest of the game, 28-21, with 3:06 to go in the third quarter.
But Jones and the Fighting Scots wouldn’t go away quietly, scoring three rushing touchdowns on their next three drives to close the third and start the fourth quarter.
Jones scored on rushing plays of five, 13 and two yards, respectively, to tie the score 28-all. Scotland needed just 18 total plays to score the three touchdowns, and the second of the three was set up by an interception by Chase Odom.
Hamilton helped set up the game-winning drive by returning the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the Scotland 42-yard line. Richmond started the drive with 5:31 to play.
A pair of six-yard runs from Green, a three-yard gain by junior tailback Jordan Bostick and a one-yard loss made it third-and-eight from the 28-yard line. That led to Hamilton’s game-winning grab.
With a chance to answer, Scotland moved the ball near midfield. Senior defensive back Jamison Jones made a tackle-for-loss on Zay Jones, which was later followed by a pass break-up by junior cornerback CJ Covington.
The Fighting Scots aired out two pass attempts on their final two plays, both to receiver Dajuan Gibson. Senior David McNair defended the first one and the second was overthrown in double coverage.
Three straight kneel downs by Tillman in victory formation iced the win.
Sophomore wide receiver Keonta Pegues added two receptions for 24 yards and senior wideout Jada Zimmerman caught a pass for eight yards. Drake’s 168 receiving yards were a single-game best for him.
Tillman contributed 25 rushing yards on seven carries and recorded four total touchdowns, his best single-game outing since taking over the starting quarterback position.
The Raiders collected 421 yards of total offense (231 passing, 190 rushing) and Scotland, which ran 23 more offensive plays, had 431 yards of offense (277 rushing, 154 passing).
Richmond finished the regular season with a 5-5 overall record, the same as it did a season ago.
After starting 0-4, the team won five of its final six games, all against SAC schools, to break even this fall.
Against SAC opponents, the Raiders tallied a 5-1 mark, one win better than 2022. Richmond placed second in the conference standings behind Pinecrest High School (10-0, 6-0 SAC).
At the time of publication, Richmond is projected to make the NCHSAA 4A East playoffs and currently has the No. 17 best Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) in the 4A East (0.56081).
Playoff brackets will be released on Saturday. The Richmond Observer will publish that information as it’s made available.
A photo gallery of Friday’s season finale win at Scotland will be published on Saturday.
