For Richmond fans, watching starting quarterback Tedarrius Wiley leave the field gingerly holding his left shoulder made them sick to their stomachs. The visions of an eighth state championship may have vanished into the air, like the smoke during the team’s pre-game introductions.
However, not all is lost. The Raiders will still have to go out onto the field and be beaten by an opponent. While this may be a little easier with Wiley on the sidelines, it is not a given that Richmond will lose.
Granted looking to the West bracket of the 4AA state playoffs it will be very difficult to be missing your starting quarterback and advance through the likes of Independence, Mallard Creek and Butler.
But it can be done.
This season has been trying for the coaching staff and fans. Wiley’s injury may be the cherry on top.
Some fans may question why Wiley was on the field at all against Scotland in a relatively “meaningless” game. While the game was meaningless to the Raiders winning another Southeastern Conference championship, it was not in the seeding for the playoffs.
The Raiders needed to win the game to maintain a chance of earning the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in their bracket. Richmond had a loss to Butler on its resume, but would be able to toss out the defeat out because the North Carolina High School Athletic Association looks at only 10 games in determining seedings.
In fact, in one of the original preliminary pairings, Richmond actually was the No. 1 seed in the West before Butler officials reminded the NCHSAA of the Bulldogs’ 38-31 win over the Raiders.
Even though the Raiders and Bulldogs were 10-0 in the eyes of the NCHSAA, the game’s result was used to move Butler up and Richmond down.
If some fans still think the Scotland game was meaningless, look at Independence’s plight. The Patriots were rolling along and until the last month of the season were the No. 1 team in the Associated Press’ North Carolina High School 4A poll.
Independence was defeated by Butler Friday night and the loss sent the Patriots tumbling. Instead of garnering a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, the Patriots are the No. 6 seed in the West and will only have one home game in the playoffs if the higher seeds win out.
Rather than suffer Independence’s fate, Richmond needed to win the Scotland game.
At the time of Wiley’s injury, the contest was tied at 7-all. Laron Ellerbe replaced Wiley and handed off to Walter Ellerbe Jr. for a touchdown and the rout was on.
Richmond coach Paul Hoggard was hoping the Raiders would have gotten off to a quick start offensively and he would have been able to rest his starters, including Wiley in the second half. However, it was not meant to be.
Instead of feeling good about the win over their neighbors to the east, Raider Nation knows it will have to rely on a quarterback who will be making his first start on the varsity in the opening round of the playoffs.
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