Head coach Lyman Guy talks about the importance of his football team making improvements with every game. It is hard to imagine the first year coach, who saw his team lose to Johnson High his firs t week on the job, could have envisioned what his team would do in week four.
The Wildcats played four quarters of nearly flawless offensive football at South Effingham on Friday to shock the Mustangs 38-21 and delight the large and loud contingent of Wildcat fans who made the trip to Guyton.
Richmond Hill scored on their first five possessions of the game with a running game that amassed over 400 yards .
Eli Thomson ran for 98 yards and two touchdowns, T.J. Franklin added 89 yards and 2 touchdowns, Aaron Dixon ran for 73 yards and a touchdown, while Tyrell Morrise contributed 95 yards rushing of his own. Coach Guy attributed much of that success to the offensive line.
“Our offensive line was outstanding, Coach Hadley did a good job of platooning and keeping us fresh and the senior leadership really stepped up,” Guy said. The team also benefited from a well executed game plan and a defense that clamped down in the second half.
South Effingham seemed to be always one step behind the Wildcat option offense, which stayed in no-huddle mode throughout the game.
In the third quarter and with the Wildcats finally stopped 4th and 1, Richmond Hill lined up in the I - formation for what they call “heavy” and Aaron Dixon took the handoff up the middle, breaking through the line of scrimmage and breaking tackles and dragging defenders for what turned into a back breaking touchdown for the Wildcats.
The defense allowed just one late score to the Mustangs in the second half and were led by Josh Bryant (4 tackles, 2 assists)  and Conner Beeson (5 tackles, 1 assist).
Richmond Hill (3-1) will have a bye this week and will likely need it as they will welcome Liberty County, fresh off a whitewash victory over Statesboro, on Oct. 1 for homecoming.
   
Cross Country
Richmond Hill hosted the “Fishy” invitational at the fish hatchery on Saturday and head coach Levi Sybert couldn’t have been more pleased with the effort and the results.
Despite having star Shaquille Walker sidelined with a knee injury the Richmond Hill boys finished second, their best team finish of the season. Steve Thompson had a personal best 18:58 to finish seventh and Jameson Cunningham followed with his personal best and placed tenth with a time of 19:05.
The boys have 66 seconds to shave off of their current team time in order to meet their goal by the start of regional meet and Sybert feels confident they can do it.
The ladies were led by Shanee McKee with a third place finish at 22:24 followed by Morgan Stubblefield at tenth with a time of 24:06. It was good enough to help the team to a third place finish at home in spite of aches and injuries leading Sybert to comment that this was “ toughest group of girls I have ever coached”. Next up is a meet at Savannah Christian tomorrow.

Softball
The last few games were intense for the Lady Wildcats, as have been most of their games this season. A six inning 8-0 win over Brunswick followed by a crucial 5-4 win over Liberty County that was not decided until Trisha Jenning’s two run homer in the top of the seventh left Richmond Hill with hope of still finishing strong in the sub-region. However a tough 4-3 loss at Ware County spoiled that hope.
“Too many unearned runs again” explained head coach Sean Strickland, on the loss and his teams Achilles Heal so far this season. In spite of whatever hard ships her team has endured Lauren Simerly has continued to shine.
The Richmond Hill junior has posted a .066 ERA while holding her opponents to a .176 batting average.
“If we could play error free games there is no telling how far we could go” explained Strickland on his teams lack of success. The ladies will likely finish the sub-region in third place and face South Effingham in the region playoff. They will host Glynn Academy on Thursday for a 5:45 JV start.

Volleyball
Richmond Hill faced off against Camden County at home last week and lost the three game set (19-25), (21-25), (17-25) against the taller and talented team. They now stand at 8-18 and 1-1 in the sub-region. They are heading in to the meat of their region schedule hoping to right the ship.
At Savannah Country Day Thursday 5 p.m. and Tuesday September 28 at Liberty County 5:15 p.m.     

Logan covers Richmond Hill High School sports.