ROCKINGHAM - When asked if there are any games during his high school football head coaching career that his team was favored and supposed to win but didn’t, Bryan Till will tell you there are two.
The second-year Richmond Senior High School varsity football coach held up his hand and counted them off in his office following Wednesday’s practice. The first game was when he was at Terry Sanford High School, which resulted in a 28-10 loss to Northern Guilford High School during the third round of the 2015 NCHSAA playoffs.
The second game rings a little closer to home for Raider fans, as Till recounted last season’s 41-20 road loss to Jack Britt High School. A game that Till noted was filled with “too many long plays” for the Buccaneers still sticks in the front of the coach’s memory.
But luckily for the Raiders, Friday’s home bout with the Sandhills Athletic Conference opponent provides a shot at redemption. And Till and the boys in green and gold are ready -- but it all starts with focus during practice reps.
“We’ve had a good week of preparation,” Till responded when asked how practice has going this week. “The kids are playing well and are really focused in on what we’re trying to accomplish this week.
“Right now, we have to be consistent in everything we do,” he continued. “The worry for any coach is that it’s easy for a team to get in a rut during the middle of the season. We’re doing the same thing (to prepare) every Monday and so on. I want to keep them focused, and I really want to zone in and make sure everyone is still enjoying the game of football.”
In last year’s meeting, the first between the two programs since Richmond’s 29-28 win in 2015, Jack Britt raced out to a 26-6 halftime lead at home. The Bucs scored on four of their first five possessions, sustaining drives of 70, 74, 27 and 61 yards, respectively, to find the end zone.
For Richmond, it was a first half to forget, as it punted three times, turned the ball over on an interception and missed a 34-yard field goal to the left after driving the ball 70 yards. The lone Raider score came way of former running back Dante Miller, who scampered in from seven yards out with 4:00 remaining in the second quarter.
Jack Britt outscored Till’s team 15-14 in the second half, with the proverbial nail in the coffin coming on a 16-play, 99-yard touchdown drive by the Bucs. An 89-yard kickoff return by Miller and an 11-yard touchdown catch by Da’Shaun Wallace were too little too late to help the Raiders’ cause.
But interestingly enough, Till doesn’t want this year’s team to forget the 21-point loss from a season ago. Instead, he’s encouraging his players to embrace what happened and avenge the loss on their home turf Friday night.
“It’s a redemption game because last year’s loss really bothers me,” Till said. “We didn’t play well, and I take responsibility for that.
“We gave up three long pass plays and two long sustained drives (last year),” he continued. “Our conditioning Friday has to be top-notch, and we need to be the team that steps up and makes the stops necessary to win. And the guys know that -- if we can do that, I feel good about our chances.”
What has been top-notch for the Raiders over the course of the last three games has been their offense and defense, as Richmond has compiled three wins while outscoring its opponents 89-19. Two of those three wins came via a Raider defense shutout, and it’s been a plethora of young players in Caleb Hood, Jakolbe Baldwin, Dalton Stroman and CJ Tillman, coupled with numerous seasoned veteran upperclassmen, that has led the Raiders to a 4-1 overall record and a 1-0 SAC record.
Last week, Till’s squad crushed Pinecrest High School 31-0, a follow up of a 30-19 road win against No. 4 Butler High School before Hurricane Florence. Jack Britt returns several key players from last year’s surprise victory, and Richmond is primed and ready for its second SAC battle of the season.
“We haven’t done much off of our shutout against Pinecrest,” Till commented on this week’s preparation. “It’s really about trying to build off of the loss against Britt from last year. The focus isn’t about losing that game, but what we have to do this year to win.
“Our guys have got to play physical and not relaxed,” he expressed. “We don’t want to give up long third down plays, and our focus has been on that this week -- it comes down to our defense keeping their offense off the field. I know what our offense is capable of doing.”
Jack Britt (2-3, 1-0 SAC) returns its starting quarterback in senior Brennan Shortridge, who went 9-of-14 passing last year for 196 yards and three touchdowns against the Raiders. Also back in purple and gold is senior tailback Chancellor Johnson, but the Bucs will be without their top running back Glenn Young, who tore his ACL during the preseason.
Shortridge has completed 29 passes for 324 yards and has thrown four interceptions to his two touchdown passes. Jack Britt is averaging 100.3 passing yards per game, while the rushing attack fares a little better with 132.5 yards per game. Johnson has collected 288 yards on 37 carries, adding four scores and is averaging 72 yards per game this season.
On defense, the Bucs bring a defensive line that Till finds comparable in size and weight to Pine Forest’s unit. They run a 3-4 defense, but is much different than the 3-4 defense the Patriots ran a week ago. Till added that the “front seven are huge in the box,” and that the Raiders are preparing for senior linebacker Michael Matthews and senior defensive end Zion Young.
The Raider offense boasts the best numbers around the conference through the first five games of the season, as Hood leads the SAC in passing yards (911), yards per game (182.2), passer rating of players with two or more completions (120.2), and is tied with Seventy-First High School’s Kyler Davis with nine passing touchdowns. Baldwin is second in the conference with four receiving touchdowns.
Last week, Jack Britt battled Lumberton High School in a game that went to quadruple overtime before emerging as the victor 15-14 over the Pirates.
“If that was my team, I think it would give you a lot of confidence,” Till concluded. “They were able to overcome some situations, and now they’re battle tested. Again, if it was me, I’d feel like I was starting to turn the corner.”
While the No. 1 key to a victory over the Bucs remains in keeping the Jack Britt offense off the field, Till explained that the kicking came could play a “huge” factor as well.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Raider Stadium.
