High school football week ten - Richmond Sr. outlasts Scotland County
October 20th, 2007 Posted in High School Football
In one of the most anticipated match ups of the high school football season, two undefeated conference rivals met and it lived up to the expectations. Both teams were evenly matched with Scotland having a stellar defense and Richmond having a high octane offense, and both teams being ranked in the top three in the state in our most recent 4A football poll. This game would come down to which team made the least mistakes. Richmond got on the board first as their offense drove down and scored late in the first quarter with a one yard touchdown run but failed to make their point after touchdown to make the score 6-0. That would be the only score from their offense the entire game.
Scotland would answer that score with a touchdown run of their own as Demonte Terry scored on a short touchdown run with eight minutes left in the half to make the score 7-6. Scotland’s defense would shut down Richmond’s offense and got the ball back with under four minutes left in the half. Scotland’s quarterback fumbled the ball and it was picked up by one of Richmond’s defensive lineman and #43 rumbled for the touchdown to take the score to 13-7. Richmond’s defense would stop Scotland and got the ball back around midfield with under a minute to play but didn’t take advantage of it as they ran two running plays and didn’t call a timeout till their was one second on the clock and then tried to throw the deep ball but it was batted down. The halftime score would be Richmond Senior leading Scotland County by a score of 13-7.
Richmond would get the ball first in the second half but Scotland’s defense didn’t give them anything big and was forced to punt. Scotland drove down and scored with seven minutes left in the third quarter when the quarterback #18 faked a run to the right and threw back to the left on a wide receiver screen and #6 ran it in for the touchdown. That would give Scotland the lead by a score of 14-13. The rest of the third quarter was dominated by defense and would continue to dominate in the fourth. Early in the fourth quarter, Scotland was driving but got into a third long situation. Scotland’s quarterback dropped back to pass and looked left and Richmond’s defensive back read the quarterback’s eyes and jumped the route and picked the ball off and went untouched as he returned it for a touchdown. The extra point was blocked by Scotland’s #2 and that would take the score to 19-14.
Scotland would get the ball and march it down the field as they scored with around four minutes. They would try for the two point conversion but didn’t get it and the score would be Scotland winning 20-19. Richmond got the ball with around four minutes to play and all three timeouts. They would get a couple first downs but got into a third and long situation. Richmond’s quarterback would roll to his right and threw a nice pass but right off the finger tips of his receiver making it fourth and around nine yards with two minutes and thirty seconds left on the clock. Richmond with all three timeouts could go for it or kick it away and leave it to their defense to stop Scotland. Before they could get a play off they called a timeout as the play clock was winding down. After the timeout, Richmond was set up to run a play but allowed the play clock to almost run down and was forced to call another time out. Now having called two timeouts they were forced to go for it but Scotland’s defense would sack Richmond’s quarterback as he couldn’t find anybody open down the field.
Scotland County has not beat Richmond since 1994 and after stopping them on fourth down and getting the ball back all they have to do is run two minutes and twenty five seconds off the clock. What came next nobody saw coming as on the first play from scrimmage Scotland fumbled the ball and Richmond returned it over sixty yards for a touchdown and they added the two point conversion to make the score 27-20. Now, Scotland had two minutes to go eighty five yards to keep the game alive and thats what they did. They scored as the clock was about to run out to tie the score at twenty seven to send this game to overtime.
In overtime, Scotland won the toss and elected to play defense first. Richmond would run two running plays for no yards and then threw an incomplete pass. They would send out the field goal and the field goal was good giving them the lead 30-27. Scotland would have to score at least a field goal to keep their chances alive. The first play from scrimmage, Scotland’s quarterback would roll out to pass but was sacked for a big loss. On the very next play, Scotland’s quarterback would throw an interception to seal the victory for Richmond as they won 30-27 in an overtime thriller in Laurinburg. Scotland defense dominated but it was Richmond’s defense that would force four turnovers, three of which would be returned for touchdowns and the other sealing the victory in overtime. This game could have sealed the conference championship for Richmond as they move to 9-0 on the season and Scotland falls to 8-1.
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