It’s hard to defeat a team twice in one season, but the Richmond Senior football did exactly that Friday night at Raider Stadium.

Senior tailback Labarrian Jones scored four touchdowns and junior running back Walter Ellerbe Jr. rushed for 186 yards on 20 carries with a pair of TDs. The second-seeded Raiders withstood a late fourth-quarter rally from No. 10 Providence to outlast the Panthers, 40-32.

Richmond advanced to play Charlotte-Independence in the quarterfinal round of the western bracket of the 4AA NCHSAA 4AA state playoffs next Friday night at Raider Stadium. The sixth-seed Patriots defeated No. 3 seed Mallard Creek, 49-20.

“They’re a great team, and we’re going to go back to work and get ready for what should be a good game,” Richmond coach Paul Hoggard said.

Providence trailed 40-24 with a little more than four minutes remaining. The Panthers used a quick three-play drive, capped by quarterback Chauncey Concepcion’s seven-yard touchdown run. Concepcion connected with Brandon Braxton on the 2-point conversion to narrow the Raiders’ lead to 40-32.

The Panthers’ defense then forced Richmond’s offense to punt on the following possession. Providence received the ball on its own 21-yard line, but failed to move the ball.

Richmond’s defense forced fourth straight incompletions to end the Panthers’ last threat.

The Raiders’ offense was able to run out the clock and keep alive its hopes of repeating as state champions.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t seal the deal on offense, but the defense stepped up and did a great job of keeping them from moving the ball down the field and having a chance to tie the game,” Hoggard said.

Richmond led 27-14 at halftime, but Providence took advantage of a slow third quarter Raider start. The Panthers’ defense forced Richmond to punt on its opening second half possession.

Providence then used a six-play, 54-yard drive culminating in Concepcion’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Jarrid McKinney. That narrowed the Raiders’ advantage to 27-21 with 7:50 remaining in the contest.

The Panthers forced Richmond to punt again and later scored on Bryce Thompson’s 27-yard field goal, trimming the deficit to 27-24 with 4:27 left in the quarter.

But the Raiders answered back with a six-play, 65-yard drive climaxing with Jones’ 10-yard touchdown run to push their lead to 33-24 with 2:29 left in the third.

On Providence’s ensuing possession, Concepcion was intercepted by Richmond’s Tyone Byrd on a second-and-long at the Raiders’ 46 early in the fourth quarter.

The Raiders capitalized on the turnover with a clock-chewing 13-play, 89-yard drive capped by Ellerbe Jr.’s seven-yard touchdown scamper to extend the lead to 40-24 with 4:42 remaining.

“Those two really long drives were huge, because their defense had stymied us a couple times in the third quarter. But we were able to get it going once they were starting to get back into the game,” Hoggard said.

Richmond had no turnovers after committing five last week against Northwest Guilford.

Hoggard praised quarterback Laron Ellerbe for managing the game well.

“Laron did a great job and didn’t turn the ball over,” Hoggard said. “He made some nice throws when we needed them.”

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