Unbeaten Richmond Hill High School celebrated homecoming with a 39-0 shutout win over Groves on Friday night at Wildcat Stadium.
The shutout was the Wildcats’ third of the year. It improved Richmond Hill to 5-0 and 2-0 in Region3 –AAAAA.
"It’s great to have a big victory like that on such a special night," senior quarterback Dominique Allen said.
The Wildcats were never seriously challenged by Groves.
Senior running back David Katzman ran 30 yards for the Wildcats first touchdown on the second play from scrimmage. It was followed by another long drive by the Wildcats that gave Katzman his second touchdown of the night and put Richmond Hill up 14-0.
Before it was over, Richmond Hill tacked on two touchdown runs from junior wide receiver and backup quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, a TD run from Ronnie Harris and a 19-yard field goal from Canon Rooker.
Despite sitting out the second half, Katzman led the Wildcat offense with 94 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. In all, 10 Wildcats carried the ball Friday night as Richmond Hill piled up 287 yards on the ground. Allen, who finished with 64 yards rushing on 11 carries, completed 1 of 3 passes for 9 yards.
Meanwhile, Richmond Hill’s defense pressured the Rebels all night.
Linebacker Zhane Roberts led the Wildcats with six total tackles while defensive end Zach Stegner had 5.5 total tackles. Senior back T.K. Grisby grabbed his second interception of the season. Nathan Soliata, Ian Chandler and Jonathan Thomas had four tackles each for the Wildcats.
Richmond Hill coach Lyman Guy said the win was a team effort.
"Our offensive line did a real good job and I was really pleased with the defense, it’s been solid all season. Our special teams really played well too. They’ve been outstanding all year, but I thought we didn’t play upDelete-Merge Upbodycopy
to our potential there against Groves. They made the necessary adjustments and really did a great job."
Now, the Wildcats travel to take on the Effingham County Rebels in another Region 3-AAAAA match up.
The Rebels are 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in region play.
"They have a very, very good football team," Guy said. "We’re going to have to have a solid outing in all three phases of the game to have a chance against Effingham."
Kick-off is at 730.
Read more about Friday's game at Effingham County in the Sports Blog on Thursday.