WAGRAM — If the preseason predictions ahead of the high school football season hold true like they have the past couple of years, the Richmond Raiders are projected to finish near the top of the conference standings.
The Sandhills Athletic Conference held its annual football media day Sunday at The Wallace, led by conference president Chad Hill, who is also the athletic director at Union Pines High School.
Representing the Richmond Raiders this season was a pair of veteran linebackers — senior Joe Parsons, the reigning SAC defensive player of the year, and junior Terande Spencer.
Brad Denson, participating in his first media day as Richmond’s head coach, was joined by defensive coordinator Chris Campolieta and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Kemp McSween. Mike Way, Richmond’s athletic director, was also present.
Six of the seven SAC programs had two player representatives, while Southern Lee High School didn’t have players or coaches in attendance.
A steak dinner was provided by Pastor Paul Lemmond, also a representative of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He shared that all seven of the SAC’s schools are participating in the program this year.
Players met with the media while Hill led a meeting with the coaches about discussion items for the upcoming season — among them game day logistics, pre-game handshake procedures, sideline personnel, chain gang guidelines and ticket procedures.
The final attraction of the annual event was the voting to see which program is the pre-season favorite to win the SAC title.
The Raiders ranked near the top of both polls — coaches poll and media poll — taking the second place spot in the media poll with five second-place votes.
In the coaches poll, voted on by the six head coaches who were present at media day, Richmond finished tied in second place with Scotland. Both programs received three second-place votes.
The media poll, which had eight voters, and the coaches poll both named Pinecrest as the preseason frontrunner. The Patriots and head coach Nick Eddins received six first-place votes in the media poll and five first-place votes in the coaches poll.
Richmond received one first-place vote in both polls and Scotland also had one first-place vote in the media poll.
During last season’s media day polls, Richmond was tied with Scotland for second place in the coaches poll and was third in the media poll. The Raiders finished the 2023 season in second place in the SAC standings with a 5-1 record.
Two scrimmages are scheduled this week for Richmond. The first is at home against South Garner High School Tuesday (10 a.m.), followed by the Dillon High School Jamboree of Champions. Richmond will face West Florence High School Friday at 5:30 p.m.
The Raiders open their first season with Denson as head coach on the road Aug. 23 at non-conference Seventy-First High School.
The Richmond Observer will publish a season preview in the coming week.
