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Raiders blitz Providence in opener
11 months ago | 1131 views | 1 
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Walter Ellerbe sprinted for 80 yards on the team’s first play from scrimmage for a touchdown to spark the Raiders to a 27-17 victory over Providence in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Providence.
“That’s our bread-and-butter play, which is the triple option,” Richmond coach Paul Hoggard said. “Tedarrius did a good job of dishing it off and Walter did some special things after he received the ball.”
Ellerbe added his second touchdown of the night in the third quarter weaving his way into the end zone from 19 yards out. Ellerbe finished with 119 yards on seven carries in his first varsity game.
The junior wasn’t the only rushing star for the Raiders as Labarrian Jones added 182 yards on 21 carries. Even quarterback Tedarrius Wiley got in on the act with a 69-yard run in the second quarter to give Richmond a 14-3 lead.
“I should have given it up, but it didn’t happen that way,” Wiley said about his long run. “When I ran with the ball, I cut inside and bounced it back outside and saw the end zone from there.”
Even a lightning delay would not be able to slow Richmond (1-0). The officials halted play for 20 minutes with 5:26 left in the game.
After the delay, the Raiders faced a fourth-and-13 at the Providence 36 and Jones was able to fight his way for the first down to keep the drive alive. It looked as if the Raiders would put the game away, but on a third-and-goal at the Providence 1, Jones fumbled the ball back to the Panthers with 2:51 remaining in the contest.
The Panthers (0-1) attempted to make it a one-score game as they marched into Raider territory, but Chauncey Concepcion’s fourth-down pass from the Richmond 36 floated incomplete giving the ball back to the Raiders with 29.3 seconds left.
Richmond appeared to have the game firmly in control after Ellerbe’s second touchdown of the night pushed the lead to 27-3 with 5:16 left in the third quarter.
But Providence refused to go quietly.
Concepcion connected with Damon Magazu for a 6-yard touchdown toss in the closing minutes of the third quarter to cut the lead to 27-10.
After a Richmond punt, Concepcion promptly marched Providence (0-1) back down the field and found Jarrid McKinney on a slant route for a 15-yard touchdown to make the score 27-17 with 9:10 remaining in the game.
“We had a couple of mistakes in the secondary,” Hoggard said about Providence slicing the lead to 10.
The Richmond defense was able to withstand a big passing night from Concepcion, who finished the night 27-for-38 for 296 yards and an interception.
The interception was one of the key plays in the contest. The Panthers, trailing 7-3 at the time, were at the Richmond 24, when Concepcion tried to find Braxton Deaver in the end zone to take the lead. However, Richmond’s Kasheem Reid was able to tip the ball into the air, where LJ Stroman was able to cradle the ball for the interception. Two plays after the turnover, Wiley’s touchdown run pushed the lead to 14-3.
“Providence is a well-balanced team and I thought we made them one dimensional,” Hoggard said. “I thought that played into our hands. I thought we pressured the quarterback well without blitzing. With 10 new starters out there (on defense) I thought we did a good job of holding a good offense to 17 points.”
The Raiders return to action Friday in their home opener against Lee County at 7:30 p.m. at Raider Stadium.
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« RealCoach wrote on Sunday, Aug 23 at 10:45 PM »
Apparently the coaches have decided to go back to the strategy that did'nt win a state title. You know, the one that pounds the ball up the middle, and results in us settling for field goals instead of TD's. This is the philosophy that tied us with New Bern and lost the game with Dudley. What was wrong with spreading the ball around by using all of our backs to reduce the possiblity of injuries. What about throwing on non-obvious passing downs to a very good set of recievers that we have. How about getting a big lead on these teams and letting our reserves get some deserved playing time. One more thing, let's not keep our weapons holstered until we need them. Like I heard Sat. morning on the praise show. You may find out that your powder is wet from not using them. I think the players did outstanding work Friday night, now let's get the coaching up to snuff! Later
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