ROCKINGHAM - As the promise of summer break is now here, the Richmond Senior High School football program isn’t slowing down and is heating up its intense summer workout and practice schedule.
Released late last week by assistant head football coach Greg Williams, the Raiders are adding five more 7-on-7 competitions to their summer slate to prepare for the upcoming 2018 season.
With several Richmond players already participating in football camps at various colleges across the state, including All-Sandhills Athletic Conference players quarterback Caleb Hood (rising sophomore) and offensive lineman Jake Ransom (rising senior), the extra scrimmages are an added measure of preparation for week one of the regular season, which is set for Friday, August 17, against Ronald W. Reagan High School at home.
As noted in a previous Richmond Observer article, the initial football summer workout schedule released by head coach Bryan Till only included one 7-on-7 competition, which is the “King of the Hill” event at UNC Chapel Hill on Thursday, June 14. The five additional mini-tournaments all have the Raiders welcoming in regional high school teams for some more preseason passing games.
Williams, who has been tasked with scheduling the summer scrimmages on and off for RIchmond over the last decade, explained that he reached out to numerous schools trying to “gauge an interest” in them wanting to workout against the Raiders.
“These (scrimmages) help break up the monotony of summer practice,” Williams explained of the benefit of 7-on-7s. “It allows us to compete against someone else other than ourselves every day. Fresh faces help raise the intensity level. And they can be used as a learning tool for our coaches and players.”
As all of the competitions are at home and scheduled for a 10 a.m. start, Till, Williams and company will first welcome in Cape Fear High School (Fayetteville, N.C.) on Thursday, June 21. The Colts, coached by Jacob Thomas, compete in the Patriot 3A/4A Conference, and finished 10-4 in 2017. Till got his head coaching career started at Cape Fear, where he lassoed the Colts for two years before he made a pit stop at Terry Sanford High School (for four years) before taking over the Raiders.
Next on the docket are Cheraw High School (Cheraw, S.C.) and Fairmont High School (Fairmont, N.C.) on Tuesday, June 26. The double-participation scrimmage will be the first of three multi-game 7-on-7 events in a three-week span for Richmond. Last season, Andy Poole’s Cheraw Braves finished 9-4 in the 2A Region IV Conference, while the Golden Tornadoes, coached by Kevin Inman, went 5-6 in the Three Rivers 1A/2A Conference.
Two days later, on Thursday, June 28, Richmond will welcome back Cheraw for another round of competition. Joining it this time will be Marlboro County High School (Bennettsville, S.C.), which finished near the bottom of the 4A Region VII Conference with a 3-7 overall record last season under head coach Dean Boyd.
Following the second scrimmage of the week, the Raiders will take a mandatory break issued by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for the week of July 1 - July 7, before picking back up on Monday, July 9.
Off the break period, Chesterfield High School (Chesterfield, S.C.) will be the next guest at Richmond as the only school to compete against the Raiders on Tuesday, July 10. The Rams, which play in the same conference as Cheraw, finished the 2017 campaign with a 9-3 tally under Chase Arnoult, one place ahead of the Braves.
The final 7-on-7 competition for the summer will occur two days later on Thursday, July 12, as the Raiders will host their biggest tournament with three schools rolling into Rockingham. Chesterfield will return, along with Union Pines High School (Cameron, N.C.) and West Bladen High School (Bladenboro, N.C.l).
The Union Pines Vikings tallied a 6-5 record last season and finished in the middle of the Tri-County 3A Conference under head coach Matt Quinn. West Bladen, which has the farthest journey of any of the featured teams on Richmond’s schedule, has a connection to the Raiders -- the Knights’ head coach, Kris Williams, is Greg Williams’ brother. In 2017, West Bladen, which plays in the same conference as Fairmont, went 4-7.
“We want to continue to get better,” Williams said of the team’s expectations for the entire 7-on-7 schedule. “The goal is to get better individually as players and coaches. And from the first 7-on-7 to the last, the (overall) goal is to get better as a team.”
An updated version of Richmond’s summer schedule, including the new tournament dates, is listed below:
Monday, June 11 - Thursday, June 14: varsity summer workouts (9 a.m. - 10 a.m.)
Thursday, June 14: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage at UNC Chapel Hill (regular schedule for other players).
Friday, June 15: varsity offensive and defensive line camp at UNC Chapel Hill.
Monday, June 18 - Thursday, June 22: summer workouts - ninth grade and junior varsity (8 a.m. - 10 a.m.); varsity (9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.).
Thursday, June 21: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage vs. Cape Fear High School (10 a.m.)
Friday, June 22: varsity camp at North Carolina State University.
Monday, June 25 - Thursday, June 28: summer workouts - ninth grade and junior varsity (8 a.m. - 10 a.m.); varsity (9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.).
Tuesday, June 26: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage vs. Cheraw and Fairmont high schools (10 a.m.)
Thursday, June 28: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage vs. Cheraw and Marlboro County high schools (10 a.m.)
Sunday, July 1 - Saturday, July 7: dead week, no football activities.
Monday, July 9 - Thursday, July 12: summer workouts - ninth grade and junior varsity (8 a.m. - 10 a.m.); varsity (9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.).
Tuesday, July 10: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage vs. Chesterfield High School (10 a.m.)
Thursday, July 12: varsity 7-on-7 scrimmage vs. Chesterfield, Union Pines and West Bladen high schools (10 a.m.)
Saturday, July 14: Dannell Ellerbe football camp
Sunday, July 15 - Saturday, July 21: dead week, no football activities.
Monday, July 30: season practices start at 7:30 a.m. Richmond will have practice Monday - Saturday for the remainder of the summer leading up to its first game.
Wednesday, August 8: home scrimmage vs. Marlboro County and Anson County (time TBD).
Friday, August 10: scrimmage vs. East Forsyth High School at BB&T Field, Wake Forest University (6:30 p.m.).
Friday, August 17: season opener home vs. Ronald W. Reagan High School (7:30 p.m.)
Thursday, August 23: season openers for ninth grade and junior varsity football teams (TBD)
