The Richmond Senior junior varsity football team got back on track Thursday night.

The JV Raiders jumped out to a 21-6 halftime lead over South View and cruised to a 35-6 victory.

The win improved Richmond to 3-1 on the season. The team has not played since a 16-15 loss against Anson on Sept. 3.

Last week’s game against Butler was canceled and JV Raiders coach Steve Wood admitted the two weeks off was a blessing for his team.

“It really helped a lot having that time off because I saw a different team in practice,” Wood said. “We grew up a little more on both sides of the ball.”

After Richmond’s defense forced South View to turned the ball over on downs at the Raiders’ 30-yard line in the first quarter, the Raiders’ offense used a 10-play drive, capped by Ridge Sato’s 2-yard touchdown blast up the middle to give Richmond a 7-0 lead with 3:50 remaining in the first.

But the Tigers responded 25 seconds later as tailback Darryl Brown scored on a 71-yard touchdown run down the sideline. Richmond’s defense stopped South View on the two-point conversion and trailed 7-6 with 3:25 left in the opening quarter.

“On their touchdown, they caught us off guard because we lined up unbalance on the short side of the field, but they ran it on the weak side and it was a good play call,” Wood said.

The Raiders’ defense recovered and shutout the Tigers for the rest of the night and also forced two turnovers.

“I thought defensively we were much more physical than we’ve been in the past,” Wood said. “We did a good job of getting some three-and-outs.”

Steve Houston scored the next two touchdowns for Richmond. Houston capped off a six-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge and kicker Todd Inman’s extra point increased the advantage to 14-6 with 42.5 seconds left in the first.

Houston struck again towards the end of the second as his 58-yard punt return for a touchdown helped extend Richmond’s lead to 21-6 at halftime.

“We had a goal this week to score three touchdowns on special teams,” Wood said. “Steve had scored two, but one for 60-yards was negated on a block in the back. But the one that he scored on really gave us that breathing room we needed.”

In the third quarter, Sato busted a 51-yard touchdown run up the middle for his second score of the game, helping Richmond to a 28-6 advantage.

The Raiders added their last score on Trevion Williams’ 21-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“I was very proud of our offense,” Wood said. “Our offensive line stepped up and did a good job of staying on their blocks. The kids took the Anson loss real hard. They didn’t want to have that feeling again and it showed in this game.”

The JV Raiders return to action at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at New Hanover.

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com