RALEIGH – The Richmond Senior High School Raider Football Team’s non-conference finale comes this Friday as they hope to even their record ahead of the start of Sandhills Athletic Conference play.

After falling to Cardinal Gibbons 31-13 last Friday, Richmond hopes to build some momentum ahead of conference play when the Myers Park Mustangs to come Raider Stadium Friday.

“They’re a really good team. Don’t let that 1-2 record fool you. Just like we’re a really good team, and you can’t let that 1-2 record fool you. They have played a tough schedule as well. It’s not like they’ve been going up against a bunch of slouches … They’re a really good team,” RSHS coach Brad Denson said.

Denson credited his team for a great start to the week following Monday’s practice, where coaches preached the importance of holding onto the football after a myriad of turnovers greatly impacted the outcome of last Friday’s game. Turnovers put Richmond in an early deficit the Crusaders took a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Raider senior running back Keyonta Davis made a contest of it with a reception near the goal line for a TD. The score only briefly fended off the Crusaders, who went on to score 21 unaswered points before Evan Hodges found senior receiver Bob Pegues for a 26-yard TD.

Pegues finished the night averaging 26 yards per catch on 4 catches, followed by Davis who had 50 yards on 6 receptions. The Raiders receivers caught passes from three different quarterbacks, including a throw by Pegues on a 17-yard trick play. Junior Evan Hodges completed 10 of 18 for 149 yards and a touchdown while junior Dominic Tillman completed 5 of 12 for 64 yards and a TD. While Hodges picked up more yards through the air, Tillman picked up 33 yards on the ground as the Raiders second leading rush – behind senior running back Jordan Bostick’s 79-yard contribution. Despite running two quarterbacks throughout the non-conference schedule Coach Denson said that may not be the case once SAC play kicks off.

“I want to make a decision on those guys real soon. We want to let it play out through the non-conference and see where it goes. I’m not above playing both of them, but I want somebody we can ride a little bit more. Yeah, I do want to find somebody and go with them, but I want to play the hot hand. If we’re going to be a duel quarterback team, and I feel like one of them has a hot hand on a given night, I feel like that one is going to go for us,” Denson said.

Defensively, the Raiders held the Crusaders under 300 yards total offense, but the Crusaders took advantage of the Raiders’ turnovers, often starting their drives well inside Richmond territory. Linebacker Kmauri Morgan had a team-leading 10 tackles, followed by fellow linebacker Joe Parsons’ 7 tackles with lineman Jordan Hamilton and linebacker Terande Spencer each tallying 2 tackles for a loss. However, they could not stop Cardinal Gibbons junior quarterback Gannon Jones, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 264 yards and 3 TDs.

Despite facing another 1-2 team this week in Myers Park, Coach Denson said the Raiders should not expect to host a team they can walk over Friday. The Mustangs opened the season with a 24-21 to the undefeated Independence Patriots, then fell to the 2-1 Hough Huskies 52-13 before picking up their first win last Friday with a 37-14 victory over 2-1 Sun Valley. Last season the Mustangs demolished the Raiders 47-14.

“They have a quarterback who is 6-4, 200 pounds that can sling it all over the place. They have NFL guys’ kids on the team. They have guys. They have players. They have a four-star player at defensive end. We have a challenge ahead of us Friday night. We’re looking forward to it, playing at our place and protecting our house,” Denson said.