The Richmond Senior football team will attempt to cap off Homecoming week by improving its record to 5-1 on the season.

The No. 5 Raiders look to keep the momentum after their 48-27 victory over South View last week. Richmond hosts New Hanover in their last non-conference contest of the regular season at Raider Stadium tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Raiders coach Paul Hoggard knows the distractions that comes with Homecoming.

“It’s probably the most dreaded week for any football coach,” Hoggard said. “I hate it and what our kids got to understand is Homecoming is for the fans. We’ve got to be ready to play and we can take in all the celebrating after the game. We got a job that has to be done and we got to handle our business.”

Hoggard added that Richmond’s opponent will be no pushover.

New Hanover, under fourth-year coach Kevin Motsinger, is off to its best start since 1992 with a 4-1 record. Even with its solid record, Motsinger wasn’t pleased with the team’s effort following last week’s 3-0 victory over Northside last week.

“We played very poorly and that was a scrappy team that we played,” Motsinger said. “They were more physical, they played good smash-mouth football by pounding the ball right at us and shortening the game. We were very fortunate to win the game because their kids deserved to win more than us.”

However, Motsinger said he is pleased with how his team has battled through an injury-riddled season. According to Motsinger, six New Hanover starters have missed action at some point during the season and two others are lost for the season.

Motsinger added New Hanover’s offensive and defensive lines, projected to be the strongest units on the team, have been plagued with the most injuries. Motsinger said his team was without three starters on the offensive line last week, but he believes two should return against Richmond. Motsinger pointed out that the defensive line was intact for the first time last week.

Injuries or not, Hoggard said New Hanover presents some problems on both sides of the ball. A makeshift offensive line has done little to slow down senior running back Tevin Mishoe, who has rushed for 771 yards on 114 carries and 10 touchdowns. Mishoe’s best game this year was his 247 yards on 38 attempts and three touchdown effort in a 23-0 victory over Scotland on Aug. 28.

Mishoe had played on the other side of the football for the Wildcats as both a safety and linebacker.

“We lost two running backs after last season to graduation, and we felt like we could move him over to tailback,” Motsinger said. “He worked hard in the weight room in the offseason, putting on 20 pounds. He’s not the fastest guy, but Tevin is a hard-nosed back that is tough to take down.”

Raiders defensive coordinator James Johnson said the concentration in practice continues to be improving on tackling and also fixing a leaky run defense that gave up 292 yards to South View’s tailback Trey Booker last week.

“We know we’re going to be matched up against another back that is capable of having a big day, if we don’t do a better job of tackling and carrying out our assignments,” Johnson. “This guy is 219 pounds and he’s bigger than some of the guys we’ve got on defense. The thing we’ve got to do is gang-tackle and be more physical in our front seven.”

Although New Hanover wants to establish the run with Mishoe, Hoggard added the Wildcats have showed on film the ability to pass the ball well at times. Senior quarterback Jordan Betts has thrown for 341 yards and has three touchdowns but has also tossed four interceptions. New Hanover’s leading receiver is senior Jamil James with 11 catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

“One game we saw, they lined up in a three-back set and pound the ball, and in another game, they’ve showed where they will come out throwing it around a bunch,” Hoggard said. “They like to throw screen passes and we’ve got to be aware of that, especially in our secondary. We limited the big passing play last week and hopefully we can do that again.”

Motsinger said New Hanover must improved tremendously offensively from last week to have a shot against Richmond because he admitted the Raiders are going to score points. Richmond is averaging 39.4 points per game this year.

“I don’t think anybody can stop them on offense,” he said. “We’re going to have to control the ball, make first downs and not shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties. We also can’t put ourselves in long down-and-distance situations. We’re going to have to score some touchdowns to stay in this game.”

Hoggard believes Richmond will be matched up against a strong 4-3 Wildcats defense that has posted two shutouts on the season and is allowing just 7.6 points per game. Hoggard added that New Hanover’s unit isn’t very big, but is fast and athletic.

“They’ve played great defense, and no one has scored many points on them,” Hoggard said. “They’ve got some playmakers on that side of the ball.”

Motsinger said New Hanover has an experienced defensive line, consisting of 6-foot-4, 271-pound junior defensive end Eric English, senior 6-foot-2, 243-pound senior defensive end Vince Allen, 6-foot-2, 242-pound senior noseguard Everette Israel and 5-foot-11, 287-pound senior defensive tackle Quillan Greene.

Motsinger added the starting linebacker unit of junior middle linebacker Queyshon King and senior outside linebackers Greg Caison and Hunter Lancaster have been a pleasant surprise.

“We’ve played some good defensive teams and this is another challenge,” Hoggard said. “We’ve just got to continue to keep doing what we’ve been doing on offense. When the option is there, we’ve got to run it to perfection and we’ve got to complete passes when the opportunity is there.”

Motsinger said no matter the result of the game that playing in Richmond will help his team be more battled tested for Mideastern Conference play.

For the Raiders a win over New Hanover would mark the first victory for the program. The Wildcats have defeated Richmond twice in the playoffs in 1983 and 1991.

“We haven’t played them since the early 1990’s, and we don’t have any experience with them lately,” Hoggard said. “I’m sure they’re going to come in here with their ‘A’ game. Normally, when we play teams, we’re going to get their best shot.”

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