Wildcats outscore Creekside in Georgia Florida Border War classic

By Derrick Davis, special to the News

Richmond Hill’s offense started fast and never slowed, leading to a 49-31 victory over Creekside on Saturday in the Georgia vs. Florida Border Classic at Glynn County Stadium.

The Wildcats (3-1) scored touchdowns on each of their four first-half possessions against the Knights (1-2) from St. Johns, Fla., and two more to open the second half, enroute to the team’s highest-scoring output of the season.

Richmond Hill and Creekside traded touchdowns on each’s opening possession, and the Wildcats kept it rolling, marching down field for another score to go up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The Knights answered once again to knot the score at 14-14, but Creekside couldn’t contain the Richmond Hill offense.

Quarterback Kirk Scott ran it into the end zone to recapture lead for Richmond Hill at 21-14 seconds before a lightning delay sent the teams into the locker room for nearly an hour.

When the game resumed, Creekside threatened to tie the score one more after a 54-yard pass set the Knights up inside the red zone before the Richmond Hill defense bowed its neck to limit the damage to a field goal.

With the way the Wildcats were scoring, that would be more than enough.

Up 21-17, Richmond Hill sped down the field in fewer than two minutes to take its first two-score lead on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Nick Bliss. After the successful two-point conversion, the lead was 29-17 with 15 seconds until halftime.

Richmond Hill got another crucial stop on a fourth-down attempt by Creekside to open the second half, and the Wildcats proceeded to embark on a time-consuming drive that was capped by a touchdown run by Bliss from inside the 5-yard line that extended the advantage to 36-17 with 4:46 in the third quarter.

But Creekside wouldn’t go away quietly, going on a long touchdown drive if it’s own to cut the deficit to 36-25 following a two-point conversion. The Knights attempted to follow up on the momentum with an onside kick, however an illegal touching penalty would award the ball to the Wildcats, who recorded their sixth consecutive touchdown drive when Joshua Ulrich-Troupe capped off another lengthy scoring drive.

Creekside kept fighting, reaching pay dirt one last time to draw within 43-31 with 2:45 remaining, and forcing the first Richmond Hill punt with just over a minute on the clock.

However, the Knights’ drive would end on an interception by Caleb Easterling, who sprinted it back to the end zone to secure the fourth win for the Peach State in a three-day, seven-game series against the Sunshine State.