ROCKINGHAM — A splash play as part of a fourth-quarter comeback has landed a member of the Richmond Raider football team as the Official Richmond County Male Student-Athlete of the Week.
The Richmond Observer’s weekly feature series, presented by Mabry’s Drug & Home Care, recognizes senior linebacker Preston Fann as this week’s selection.
Trailing by nine points midway through the fourth quarter against West Forsyth High School, all three phases of Richmond’s game contributed to a rally that led to a 36-30 victory.
While several players made a strong case for this week’s honor, Fann happened to be at the right place at the right time to score the final touchdown of the game, securing his first career recognition.
Athletic Profile: Preston Fann
Year: Senior
Fall sport: Football
Position: Inside Linebacker
Varsity experience: 2 Seasons
Senior linebacker Preston Fann picks up a blocked punt just before returning it to the end zone for the eventual game-winning score against West Forsyth. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)
“CLASSROOM CREDITS” WITH PRESTON FANN
Like many of Richmond’s student-athletes, Fann said it’s a priority for him to put his schoolwork ahead of his time preparing for Friday nights.
A dual enrollment student, Fann is also seeing the benefits firsthand of being able to earn college credits while still in high school. This semester he’s taking three courses at Richmond Community College — Art 111, English 112 and Psychology 150.
Spending his afternoon blocks at Richmond, Fann is taking Chemistry Honors and Weight Training Honors. He’s currently on track to make the A/B honor roll for the first nine-week grading period.
At the start of the semester, Fann had a 4.160 weighted grade point average, placing him in the top 40 students of Richmond’s graduating class this year.
“GAME WINNER” WITH PRESTON FANN
Richmond trailed for the majority of Friday’s game against the West Forsyth Titans and didn’t take its first and only lead until there was 3:13 left in regulation.
With just under six minutes to play, the Titans held a 30-21 lead. Richmond cut it back to three points when senior quarterback Evan Hodges threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Amer Morrison.
On West Forsyth’s next drive, a punt attempt was blocked by sophomore Ty Covington. That set the game-winning touchdown in motion. Fann, who was also in on the blitz on the punt, found himself alone with the bouncing football inside the Titans’ 10-yard line.
Keeping his wits, Fann gained possession of the ball and returned it the remaining distance to the end zone for the touchdown. The Raiders made a successful two-point conversion to put them ahead by six points.
Fann, who is in the starting lineup for the first time this season, finished the game with five total tackles, including one solo tackle and four assists.
Through five games this season, Fann is third on the team in overall tackles (37) and has recorded 3.0 tackles-for-loss. His recovery on the blocked punt was the first of his career.
Richmond (3-2) is on its bye week and will start Mid-South Conference play Friday, Oct. 3 on the road at Pine Forest High School (1-4).
“RAPID RESPONSE” VIDEO WITH PRESTON FANN
The Richmond Observer will publish two more Official Richmond County Student-Athletes of the Week next week.
