Report by Travis Jaudon, sports correspondent.
Trailing by a score of 7-0 early in the second quarter of Friday’s non-region finale against visiting Buchholz (FL) High School, the Richmond Hill High School Wildcat football team found itself in an unfamiliar position of being behind on the scoreboard.
After the game’s first 12 minutes of action, however, Richmond Hill reverted back to its ole’ reliable running game. It was a familiar formula, and one that catapulted the hosts to a 35-28 come-from-behind victory over the visiting Bobcats out of Gainesville, Florida.
Richmond Hill (5-0) sealed its unblemished non-region slate this season – it also set the table for a highly anticipated Region 1-6A opener against Tift County next week (Sept. 27) in Richmond Hill (7:30 pm).
Preseason projections anticipated 1-6A to be one of the toughest regions in all of GHSA before the year began, and all signs point to the accuracy of that prediction thus far. Entering play on Sept. 20, the six teams in the region combined for a 23-5 record and RHHS was one of the four unbeatens among them. Two of the five non-region victories thus far have come against schools from the state of Florida (def. Everglades HS 45-0 on Aug. 30), and Richmond Hill can earn the program’s 150th all-time win (playing 39th season in GHSA) against the Tift County Blue Devils (2-3) on Sept. 27.
Seniors Joshua Troupe and Caleb Easterling paced the offense to the tune of 462 team rushing yards and five total rushing touchdowns on Friday against the Bobcats (3-2). Troupe carried 29 times for 221 yards and three scores while Easterling had 153 of his 218 all-purpose yards on 10 carries, two of which ended with him celebrating in the endzone.
RHHS scored 21 points in the second quarter and 14 more in the third; Buchholz posted seven in each quarter.
The second touchdown was followed by an unsuccessful PAT and RHHS trailed 14-13 with roughly five minutes remaining before halftime. The third touchdown, which came with 58 seconds remaining, was followed by a successful two-point rushing conversion on a direct snap to Troupe. The Bobcats showed toughness throughout and provided head coach Matt LeZotte’s team with one of its stiffest tests to date.
When the Bobcats cut the RHHS lead to 35-28 with just over five minutes left in the game, the Wildcats recovered a Buchholz onside attempt that proved to be decisive. Even with three timeouts to use on defense, Buchholz never got the ball back thanks to the dominance of the Wildcat ground game. Richmond Hill only threw the ball twice, completing one pass for a grand total of five aerial yards.
The Wildcats have 24 rushing touchdowns through five games and are averaging 40 points per game on offense while allowing 13.6 to opponents.
BCHS – 07 - 07 - 07 - 07 – 28
RHHS – 00 - 21 - 14 - 00 – 35
Halftime: RHHS, 21-14.
Records: BCHS 3-2; RHHS 5-0.
Next: RHHS vs. Tift County (Sept. 27).
Travis Jaudon is a sports correspondent for the Bryan County News. You can email Travis at travisLjaudon@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter/Instagram @JaudonSports.