Richmond Hill will not get a break this week as it completes its run against Region 1-6A’s version of “Murderer’s Row” when it wraps up regular season play against Colquitt County at 7 p.m. Friday night at Wildcats Stadium.

The Packers (7-2, 3-1) are ranked No. 8 in the state and they come in on the heels of the Wildcats (6-3, 2-2) dropping a 49-23 game to No. 4 unbeaten Lowndes County (9-0, 4-0) last Friday. Richmond Hill’s other region loss was to No. 9 Valdosta (8-1, 3-1) whose lone region loss was to Colquitt (18-17).

Colquitt beat Camden County, 45-28, last Friday and got some good news—bad news for Richmond Hill--in the process as 4-star running back and Georgia commit Joe Lamar scored two touchdowns as he returned from a three-game suspension imposed by Coach Sean Calhoun for conduct detrimental to the team.

Regardless of the outcome Richmond Hill has secured a spot in the playoffs as it is assured of finishing no worse than fourth in the region.  A win over the Packers would give the Wildcats a No. 3 seed. Depending on its seed Richmond Hill will play either Buford or Mill Creek in the first round.

Richmond Hill, a team dominated by underclassmen, needed to play a near perfect game in order to upset the Vikings but couldn’t pull it off.

Quarterback Gunner Mobley, who passed for 231 yards and a touchdown, was picked off three times with one of them being returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Israel Harrison in the fourth quarter. On the other two Lowndes, as good teams will do, drove for touchdowns.

“We can’t turn the ball over and win games, period,” said frustrated Richmond Hill Coach Matt LeZotte. “The last two games (41-0 loss at Valdosta) we’ve been plagued by turnovers. All the other games we haven’t. Then we got a guy getting hot putting the ball in the air.”

LeZotte was referring to Lowndes quarterback Jayce Johnson who threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns while scoring once on a 3-yard run. The Vikings were averaging 85 yards per game passing going into the game.

Lowndes went to the air more than usual because it had trouble running the ball. The Vikings entered the game as one of the top rushing teams in the state with a 294.5 yards per game average. They finished with 158 but 67 of those came on a scoring run by Mason Woods with 3:08 to play and the issue no longer in doubt.

“Our guys played great,” LeZotte said. “To win we’ve got to play better. The guys had really good energy, really good preparation. We’ve just got to have a little better results.”

Lowndes opened the scoring when Johnson threw a 37-yard strike to Ar’Tavian Brown to cap a game-opening drive on which Johnson completed four of five passes.

The Wildcats, however, showed their mettle when on their second possession they went 73 yards on 10 plays with Amire Miller scoring on a 1-yard run on the second play of the second quarter. On the previous play Mobley had hit Eli Grant on a 34-yard pass to set up Miller’s run.

Richmond Hill then got the ball back three plays later when Grant, who also plays cornerback, got the first of his two interceptions to set up a razzle-dazzle touchdown which saw Mobley hitting Nick Swain on a 24-yard touchdown pass.

Two Richmond Hill players handled the football before flipping it back to Mobley who then hit Swain to give the Wildcats a 14-7 lead following Cannon Kuryla’s extra point.

Lowndes answered with an 11-yard run by Kaevone Thomas and then intercepted Mobley in the end zone to set up an 80-yard drive that ended with Johnson and Joe Henry teaming up for a 16-yard score with 51 seconds left in the first half.

The Vikings took control when they scored on their first two possessions of the second half. When Johnson scored with 4:27 left in the third quarter for a 35-14 lead it proved to be too big of a hill for the Wildcats to climb although they never gave up.

Miller scored on a 2-yard run three minutes later and Richmond Hill got a safety one minute into the fourth quarter when Johnson was called for intentional grounding in the end zone. Miller finished with 51 yards on 19 carries.

“We’re going to show up and play ball and expect to win every single game,” LeZotte said. “That’s how we build it, how we’re going to build it. I’m proud of the guys for the effort they put forward.”

Trailing 35-23 the Wildcats had a breath of life left but it was snuffed out when Harrison got his pick six. Woods’ touchdown dash was merely icing on the cake.