ROCKINGHAM — The crafty work of the foot of an underclassman early in Wednesday’s soccer match led to celebration for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team.
Sophomore Allen Franco contributed to a fast start and helped Richmond earn a senior night victory over Overhills High School.
It was also the work of one of those seniors — Memphis Jacobs — that found the back of the net twice, including a late insurance goal.
The Raiders earned a 3-1 win against the Jaguars, benefitting from two goals in the opening seven minutes of the Mid-South Conference match.
Franco got the scoring started in the fifth minute when he blistered a shot from distance that bent its way past a goalkeeper who never saw it coming.
Two minutes later, Franco started a rush for the Raiders’ offense and threaded a pass to Jacobs through traffic, which resulted in an assist for him.
Wide open inside the 18-yard box, Jacobs slotted the shot low and inside the right post to make it 2-0 in the seventh minute.
It was a quiet first half for senior goalkeeper Camden Williams, who played the whole match in net.
The Raiders had several chances to score early in the second half, starting with a header attempt by senior DJ Gainey that was stopped. On the rebound, Jacobs’ follow up shot hit the side netting.
Senior Jason Medina put a shot on frame on a free kick from 25 yards in the 53rd minute, and sophomore Bryan Mendez Mendoza mirrored that attempt a couple minutes later on a rush.
Overhills scored the next goal of the match to make it a 2-1 lead for Richmond in the 59th minute. Following a foul in the box, a penalty kick goal beat Williams to his right as he went left.
Keeping the pressure on, junior Kevin Diaz Lopez had consecutive shots in the 66th minute. His initial blast hit the left post, and after collecting his own rebound, his second shot was just high.
Junior Patrick Smith joined the stat sheet in the 73rd minute when he assisted Jacobs on Richmond’s final goal.
Finessing his way through a series of defenders, Smith got deep in the box and sent a cross to the back left post. There to one-time the shot was Jacobs, who scored his second goal of the match from close range.
Switching gears, the Raiders ran out the seven remaining minutes of the match by bolstering its defense and maintaining possession.
The Raiders (7-11-2, 3-5-1 MSC) begin the final week of the regular season Monday with their final conference match at Pinecrest High School (9-4-1, 8-1 MSC).
That will be followed by the regular-season finale at non-conference Union Pines High School Tuesday. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.
JV Raiders shutout JV Jaguars
Preceding the senior night celebrations, the Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team blanked Overhills 5-0.
The JV Raiders scored two goals in the first half and added three insurance tallies in the final 35 minutes.
Sophomore Eduardo Soriano netted the match’s first goal on a penalty kick, which was followed by a goal from sophomore Drew McCaskill. Assisting on that goal was freshman Nate Erwin.
In the second half, freshman Alan Santiago made it 3-0 when he was assisted by Soriano.
McCaskill scored again, this time on a penalty kick, for the team’s fourth goal. Erwin recorded the last goal in the final minute, sending a free kick into the net from the top of the box.
“We’ve been playing some really good soccer this week,” head coach Jessi Weigman said. “The guys have built early leads and that’s allowed them to settle in and keep our opponents from scoring.
“All of our field players got some playing time and I’m proud of everyone’s effort. Hopefully we can close out the season with two wins on the road.”
The JV Raiders (12-6-1, 6-2-1 MSC) will also close their season next Monday and Tuesday at Pinecrest and Union Pines. Those matches are slated to start at 5 p.m.
