ROCKINGHAM — Several Richmond Senior High School fall sports programs will wrap up their respective regular season schedules this week, while the football and soccer programs continue their Sandhills Athletic Conference slates.
Volleyball closes regular season with senior night
The Lady Raider volleyball team and head coach Ashleigh Larsen are facing a crucial final two regular season matches this week with hopes of finishing in the top three of the SAC standings. After falling to Lumberton High School on Thursday, Richmond (15-5, 7-5 SAC) slipped to fourth place behind Jack Britt High School.
Beginning play on Tuesday at Seventy-First High School, the Lady Raiders will look for the season sweep against the Lady Falcons, having beat them 3-0 on Sept. 17. Richmond’s biggest challenge of the week will be on Thursday, when it hosts rival and second-place Scotland High School on senior night. The Lady Raiders will look to redeem a four-set loss to the Lady Fighting Scots earlier this fall.
Both matches will begin at 6 p.m., and the Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament will begin Monday, Oct. 21.
Soccer looks to maintain top-three spot in SAC standings
The Richmond boys’ soccer team will look to continue its second-half turnaround with two more SAC matches this week. Having won five of their last six conference games, the third-place Raiders (6-8-2, 6-4 SAC) will host SAC leader Hoke County High School on Monday. The Bucks are currently undefeated in conference play with a perfect 10-0 mark.
Next will be fifth-place Lumberton High School, which will be a road game on Wednesday for head coach Chris Larsen and his team. Richmond lost a nail-biter in double overtime against the Pirates on Sept. 18. Currently, the Raiders are on the outside looking in for the 4A state playoffs, and both matches will begin at 7 p.m.
Girls’ golf, cross country teams wrap up regular seasons
The Richmond girls’ golf team is coming off a two-match week in the past seven days that saw the Lady Raiders pick up two more fourth-place finishes. Remaining consistent in the No. 4 spot this fall, head coach Keith Parsons’ team will close its regular season with an 18-hole round at Pinehurst No. 5 on Monday.
SAC golfers haven’t played a full round of golf since the second match of the fall, but Monday’s regular-season finale will serve as a final warmup for the conference championship and regionals. Sophomore Kenleigh Frye shot a career-best 50 (+14) last week, and senior Hailey Miller will look to qualify for the postseason. Tee times will begin at 2 p.m. in Pinehurst.
In cross country action, the Raider and Lady Raider runners will also wrap up their regular season. Both teams will run at Pinecrest High School on Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m., and will face the host Patriots, Jack Britt and Purnell Swett high schools.
Senior Airel Brown and junior Carson Jordan have led their respective teams in each race they’ve run this fall, while sophomore Maylyn Wallace looks to build off a personal record performance last week in Fayetteville. The SAC championship meet will take place next week.
Varsity and junior varsity football ramp up for Hoke County
The Raider varsity football team overcame a short-lived deficit on Friday at Jack Britt, stringing together 34 unanswered points in the second half to put away the Buccaneers. Now a perfect 7-0 on the season, the Raiders are gearing up for another tough team in Hoke County. The Bucks stuck with Scotland for a majority of their game on Friday before allowing two late scores.
Head coach Bryan Till said the Jack Britt game was the type of situation his team needed to see if it could deal with adversity, and the Bucks (5-2) will bring another tough team to the table as Richmond looks to stay unbeaten. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Raeford. ROSports will publish a preview later in the week.
The junior varsity team re-entered the win column against Jack Britt last Thursday, and head coach Patrick Hope is challenging his team to be able to put forth the same sort of performance for the second week in a row. The JV Raiders will host Hoke County on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
