LAURINBURG — The Richmond Senior football team finished the Southeastern

Conference season in style, but may have taken a major blow to their chances to

repeat as state champions.

Behind junior tailback Walter Ellerbe Jr.'s 211 yards and four touchdowns on

just 14 carries, the Raiders wrapped up the SEC season with a 35-7 victory over

Scotland Friday night at Pate Stadium. Ellerbe has scored 10 touchdowns in the

last two games.

The win improved the Raiders' record to 10-1 overall, 5-0 in the conference and

Richmond will head into the upcoming 4-AA state playoffs riding an eight-game

winning streak.

But the news wasn't all good on the night for Richmond. The Raiders played

without starting running back Labarrian Jones, who suffered a high ankle sprain

last week against Pinecrest, and suffered another big injury on offense.

Starting quarterback Tedarrius Wiley went down with a shoulder injury late in

the second quarter.

According to Raiders coach Paul Hoggard, Wiley was getting X-rays on the

shoulder following the game and the severity of the injury is still up in the

air.

"We're hoping everything will be all right," Hoggard said.

The Raiders' defense caused four turnovers, three on interceptions. The first

pick came by Antoine Bostick, who picked off a Caison Murphy pass on the second

play of the game.

Before Wiley went down, he gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead on a 43-yard touchdown

run with 11:09 remaining.

In the second quarter, Richmond forced Scotland to punt, but on a bad snap,

Dominique Green ran 10 yards to pick up the first down on a fourth-and-five.

Scotland later scored on the drive as Tony McRae scored on 1-yard touchdown

plunge to tie the game at 7-all with 3:05 left in the quarter.

On Richmond's next series, Wiley ran eight yards on second and long, but came

down hard on his shoulder. He remained on his back on the field for several

minutes, before walking off on his own power.

Backup quarterback Laron Ellerbe took over and on the next play handed the ball

off to Walter Ellerbe, who ran 11 yards to the end zone, giving Richmond a 14-7

lead at halftime.

After the break, the game belonged to Walter Ellerbe and the Richmond defense.

On the first possession of the second half, Walter Ellerbe broke free for a

44-yard to put the Raiders at the Scotland 4-yard line on the third play. On the

next snap of the ball, Walter Ellerbe capped the quick scoring drive with a dive

up the middle to push the Raiders' advantage to 21-7.

After forcing a Scotland punt, Walter Ellerbe struck again. He took a hand-off

and went straight up the middle of the Scots' defense and sprinted 88 yards for

his third touchdown of the night. The score extended the lead to 28-7 with 7:28

left in the third quarter.

The Raider defense once again was able to force a Scotland turnover as Rashod

Rush stepped in front of a Murphy pass for the team's second interception of the

night.

Four plays later, Walter Ellerbe closed out the game's scoring with a 3-yard

dive into the heart of the Scotland defense.

"Laron did a great job of coming in and managing the game, we may need him (in

the playoffs), depending on Tedarrius' status," Hoggard said. "The weight of the

offense fell on Walter and the offensive line. Walter took over and had another

strong game."

The Raiders will find out their opponent in the opening game of the playoffs

this afternoon.