Fighting Scots fall to Richmond in regular season finale

ROCKINGHAM —The Fighting Scots football team concluded their 2024 regular season with a 30-6 defeat at the hands of archrival Richmond on Friday night at Richmond Senior High School. Scotland falls to 5-5 (3-3 against conference opponents) with the loss while the Raiders finish the regular season without a conference loss and improve to 8-2 (6-0 in conference games) with the victory. Head Coach Richard Bailey fully believes his team played better than the final score indicated and gave credit to Richmond while being aware of the high-quality opponent Scotland faced.

“Hats off to Richmond County and their coaching staff, they deserved to win and have an excellent football team,” Bailey said. “I’m proud of our kids, they played hard, I want to win but I’m proud of the effort.”

Scotland started the game with multiple chances to grab an early advantage, beginning with the first drive making it deep into Richmond territory thanks to Ji’San McPhatter and Dajuan Gibson connecting on a 40-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage. Unfortunately, Cameron Cole missed a 42-yard field goal and the Scots came away from the drive with no points. Keyshaun Mcqueen then blocked the Raiders punt deep in their own territory and gave the offense the ball at the Richmond 17-yard line. Scotland’s offense failed to take advantage, eventually turning the ball over on downs and getting no points from another red zone trip. The Raiders then drove 91 yards down the field to take the lead with some big runs from Bob Pegues, Jordan Bostick and Chance Crowder as Ameir Morrison caught a short touchdown pass to put Richmond in front 6-0 (failed two-point conversion) after 12 minutes of action.

After a Scots three and out, Richmond added onto their lead thanks to a 24-yard field goal with just over nine minutes left (9:04) until halftime. After both teams had to punt on their next offensive possessions, Scotland had one more opportunity to gain some momentum heading into the break. Thanks to a fourth down conversion by penalty, a 48-yard reception at the Richmond 31-yard line by Gibson and a 12-yard catch by Quatavius Everette at the Raiders 7-yard line, the Scots seemed to be in good shape to at least come away with points. That turned out to not be the case as they would turn the ball over on downs and head into the locker room still down 9-0 and with no points to show for three red zone trips in the first 24 minutes. Bailey pointed to the missed opportunities in the first half as a turning point in the game but also sent some serious praise toward the Richmond defense.

“They have a great defense with nine seniors on it, definitely by far the best defense we’ve played all year,” Bailey said. “We had chances, you have to score touchdowns, and we didn’t do it.”

The first possession of the second half was rather uneventful for both teams with Richmond having to punt and Scotland going three and out. The Raiders then grew their advantage with a 74-yard touchdown drive that was highlighted by a pair of long third down conversions, the first being a catch at the Scotland 25-yard line on a 3rd & 13 from Keyonta Davis. A 23-yard touchdown reception from Pegues on a 3rd & 18 gave the Raiders a 16-0 lead with just under two minutes left in the third quarter (1:47).

Terande Spencer then made his presence felt for Richmond in a major way by forcing a fumble from McPhatter that was recovered by Zach Gardner at the Scots 40-yard line. The Raiders would then convert another 3rd & long (15 to be exact) with a 37-yard end around from Jayden Hamilton and add onto their lead with a five-yard touchdown run by Bostick. The Scots would finally break the shutout on their next drive, overcoming a pair of Spencer sacks in the process and hitting Gibson for a 41-yard completion before Everette hauled in a 20-yard touchdown catch on 4th & 15 to make it 23-6 (Scotland went for two after a Richmond encroachment penalty and failed to convert). That wouldn’t make much of a difference in the outcome of the game, however, as Richmond recovered the ensuing onside kick and scored one more time for good measure with Crowder on the ground.

While the final score may make the game seem lopsided, Bailey was under the belief that his team has a lot to be happy with. While winning is of course the goal, Bailey saw some promise moving forward and was happy with a good number of things.

“We didn’t play bad, it may look like it from the score, but we did a lot of good things against a very good football team,” Bailey said. “I’m pleased with our effort; you can improve even losing.”

The conference reporting deadline is at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. Seeding for the state playoffs will be the next day on Sunday, Nov. 10 and the first round of the playoffs will start on Friday, Nov. 15. The full list of important dates for the remainder of the football season can be found on the NCHSAA website here: Football – NCHSAA.