ROCKINGHAM — Scoring on three of its four first-half possessions Thursday set the tone for the Richmond Senior High School junior varsity football team.
Controlling the narrative from the opening kickoff, the JV Raiders defeated Lee County High School 33-11 in their final home game of the season.
The Sandhills Athletic Conference victory featured another dominant performance from the JV Raiders’ running game, while the defense limited Lee County’s movement and recorded two takeaways.
Four of Richmond’s five touchdowns were rushing scores, which saw freshman running backs Ty Covington and Donovan Jones each cross the goal line twice.
Sophomore linebacker Tristan Chavis and freshman linebacker Logan Carter both intercepted one pass in the win, coming in the second and fourth quarters, respectively.
Covington, who finished with three total touchdowns, sparked the JV Raiders on the opening kickoff.
Taking the ball near the Richmond 25-yard line, Covington slid left and emerged out of a horde of jerseys. With nothing but green grass in front of him, he went the distance for six points.
Freshman kicker Jake Gardner tacked on the first of his three point-after attempts to put Richmond up 7-0 just 14 seconds into the game.
Lee County ran nine plays on its first drive but had to punt. Sophomores Kaleb Brown and Jamaury Jones made a tackle-for-loss on second down, followed by another stop on third down by Jones to force the kick.
Sophomore Jasiah Cooper returned the punt for a score but a block in the back negated his score.
Starting at their 46-yard line, the JV Raiders marched 54 yards on a dozen plays to extend their lead. On fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, Donovan Jones burst through the line for a touchdown.
Gardner’s kick split the uprights to make it 14-0 with four ticks left in the first quarter.
The JV Yellow Jackets’ lone points of the half came on the ensuing drive. Despite tackles-for-loss by Chavis, sophomores Keith Cummings, Jeremiah Covington and Jaire Allen, Lee County pummeled its way into the red zone.
No-gain stops by sophomore Elijah Ingram on second down and another by Brown and Jones on third down, led to a field goal attempt.
Lee County got on the board with a 27-yard kick with 4:02 remaining in the half.
Richmond’s third series resulted in a turnover on downs at the Lee County 35-yard line, which featured three completions by sophomore quarterback Collin Hill for 30 yards.
Donovan Jones scored on a pitch to the outside, but again, a penalty flag brought back the score.
Chavis helped keep the defense off the field on Lee County’s next play. A pass over the middle was intercepted by Chavis, who was brought down at the JV Yellow Jackets’ 34-yard line with 1:06 to go in the half.
Needing just four plays, Richmond scored once again, this time a one-yard run by Ty Covington around the left edge.
Following an unsuccessful PAT, Richmond went up 20-3 and took that lead into the break.
The second half mirrored the first for both teams. Richmond scored twice more on the ground and earned a takeaway, while the JV Yellow Jackets punted twice, scored and threw an interception.
A quick three-and-out by Lee County (1-6, 1-3 SAC) to start the third quarter resulted in a punt and gave Richmond the ball at its 48-yard line.
Hill captained the five-play scoring drive and had completions to sophomore Konner Gardner and Cooper to get near the red zone.
Ty Covington carried the ball on back-to-back plays, with the second rush ending in a 23-yard scamper and his final trip to the end zone.
Gardner’s PAT with 7:24 left in the third quarter made it a 27-3 advantage.
Ingram made another stop for no gain on third down on the next drive to force another Lee County punt. That led to a 10-play, 50-yard scoring march, the JV Raiders’ final one of the game.
With sophomore quarterback BJ Hinson taking the snaps, Richmond ran the ball eight times to help drain the game clock.
As the third quarter ended, Donovan Jones found the end zone on the first play of the fourth stanza. One second-and-goal from the one, he plunged ahead for the score.
Lee County answered with a nine-play, 56-yard drive to the end zone. The JV Yellow Jackets scored on the ground from the five-yard line.
Going for the two-point try, Lee County was successful. That made it 33-11 with 7:30 to play.
After a Richmond turnover on downs, perhaps the loudest play of the game came on Lee County’s final offensive snap.
On a screen pass, Carter jumped the route and picked the ball to give Richmond possession inside its opponent’s 40-yard line with less than two minutes to play.
A couple of runs by Richmond ran out the clock and secured the win.
The JV Raiders (7-2, 4-1 SAC) have a bye week next Thursday and will close the season at Scotland High School Oct. 31.
Sports editor’s note: No official stats were available at the time of publication. The Richmond Observer will publish a photo gallery of the JV Raiders’ win soon.
