By Charlie Moon, Lowcountryradio.
The Richmond Hill Wildcats are on a tear, just at the right time.
Tonight, they travel to Westlake High in Atlanta to take on the 3rd ranked Lions in the 2nd Round of the GHSA Playoffs. They earned a convincing 56-0 shutout in Round 1 on “The Hill” against Lakeside-Evans of Augusta. I could give you a blow-by-blow account, but let’s just say. It was over before it began. Early in the first quarter, Isiah Allen ran an R-P-O (run-pass-option) to perfection. Once the Lakeside realized he kept the ball, he was in the end zone.
LCR’s Tim Melhorn (offensive play-by-play) was throwing his hands in the air all night long. Nuna Hunter, Evan Clark and Ashaud Roberson each added rushing scores. Jordan Clark caught a TD pass from Tyler Coleman.
Heck, even I got in on the scoring calls. I got to use my “Color – ME – 6” call when Hunter and Kyshaun Riggins each had pick-sixes. Melhorn handles play-by-play on offense, while take the reigns n defense.
Speaking of defense, minus the questionable non-hurdle call on a lone Glynn Academy 3 weeks ago, the starting unit has not given up a TD in 5 weeks. That was in a 42-27 win over Brunswick. The entire defensive line and several others were featured on Thursday’s special edition of “The Wildcats Coach’s Show.”
Westlake Preview
The Cats are gonna need that defense Friday night, against an offense that averages 31 points/game. They are getting 207 on the ground and an incredible 273 in the air per game. It’s not coincidence there are 3 Division-1 recruits on that side of the ball. Clemson commit Dacari Collins and LSU commit Leo Blackburn have combined for 1,611 yards on 84 catches and 14 TDs. And they’ve got a future D-1 recruit in dual threat Sophomore QB RJ Johnson. He completes 70% of his passes. He is 166-231, with 2,664 yards, 20 TDs and 4 INTs. The Wildcat secondary will need to be up that challenge.
Go back a calendar year, plus one week, when DC Tony Lezotte schemed a great plan against Valdosta, They came in Tate Roddemaker (now at FSU), one of the most highly recruited QBs in the land. Valdosta also had two D-1 commits. The Cats defense gave a little, but they forced Roddemaker into 3 INTs, more than he threw all season. I think they can do the same this year, but it will be up that defensive line. On Lowcountryradio.com we simply call them “The Law offices of Vickers, Brooks, Mason and Bush.” They have combined for 29 tackles for loss, 18 sacks and 18 QB hurries. Folks, those are insane numbers.
On the offensive side of the ball, it just needs to be what we’ve seen all year. The ground attack, led by Roberson’s 1,463 yards, opening it up for Coleman’s 1,504 yards in the air. Plus, I believe there are a couple wrinkles neither Westlake nor anyone will have seen. I’ll just leave that right there.
Bottom line, it will be a great game. The AJC puts out it’s Top 10 games of the week tomorrow morning. I’m confident this will be one of the top 2 or 3, if not the #1 game in the state of Georgia.
Don’t forget to tune us in Friday, on Lowcountryradio.com at 7:00 for the pregame show and 7:30 kickoff!