Junior quarterback Kellen Hood hands the ball off to senior running back Jaron Coleman during a win over Hoke earlier this season.
Neel Madhavan | Daily Journal File Photo
ROCKINGHAM — Quarantine and the regular season are in the rear-view mirror, and the 4A state playoffs lay ahead for the Richmond Senior High School varsity football team.
As the No. 4 seed, the Raiders will host No. 5 seed Middle Creek from Apex and face the Mustangs Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Raider Stadium.
The Raiders enter the playoffs coming out of a COVID-19 quarantine that forced them to cancel their final three games of the season against Seventy-First, Scotland and Purnell Swett. Richmond last played on March 26, a 48-8 win at Lumberton.
The team returned to practice last week, but will still have a couple players out for this week’s game because of the quarantine timeline required by COVID protocols, according to head coach Bryan Till.
“Students still have to have 3 days of practice even after coming off quarantine and we have a few guys who won’t have that in on Friday even after their quarantine has ended,” Till said.
It remains to be seen what effect the long layoff will have on the Raiders, Richmond last played on March 26, a 48-8 win at Lumberton.
“It could be (positive or negative), but we should be fresh and excited for sure,” Till said. “We have to execute to eliminate the possible negative effects.”
Middle Creek comes into Rockingham at 6-1 as the second-place team from the 4A South Wake conference. The Mustangs’ only loss came in its season opener, a 13-10 defeat to undefeated conference winner Apex Friendship.
The Mustangs have proved to be balanced offensively. Junior quarterback Chad Kearns has thrown for 1,390 yards and 13 touchdowns, while their ground game has racked up 1,066 rushing yards.
Senior Dorien Stewart has been the primary ball carrier and is averaging 106.7 rushing yards per game in leading the team with 747 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.
Senior Tharius Suggs and junior Adam Booker have been Kearns’ favorite targets through the air. Booker leads the team with 402 receiving yards, while Suggs is not far behind with 386.
Defensively, senior defensive back Na’shawn Biggs has been the centerpiece for the Mustangs. He leads the team in solo and total tackles with 20 and 38, respectively. Senior defensive back Michael Macaluso is also a name to note, he’s second on the team in tackles with 17 and leads the Mustangs with two interceptions.
“They are very well coached and have multiple weapons on offense along with a very sound defense that hasn’t given up many yards or points,” Till said. “They are big up front on offense as well.”
Kickoff is Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Raider Stadium.
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Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2675 ext. 2751 or [email protected] Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.
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Raiders return from quarantine, open playoffs vs. Middle Creek - Richmond County Daily Journal
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