SPRINGFIELD, Ga. — Forget about opening the football season with a cupcake. Effingham County ordered the whole dessert menu when it scheduled Richmond Hill on Friday night.
The Class 7A Wildcats are an old nemesis from when the schools competed in the same classification and the same region. Four years ago, Richmond Hill moved up after beating up the Rebels for five straight years, winning all five by a combined score of 154-30.
Now Richmond Hill (6-5, 2-3 Region 1-6A a year ago) is finding its footing in Class 7A, advancing to the state playoffs as a fourth-place team in the black-and-blue Region 1 behind perennial top-10 programs Lowndes, Valdosta and Colquitt County.
“Coach (Matt) LeZotte is an exceptional program builder,” ECHS coach John Ford said. “He has a very good coaching staff and his kids play the right way.”
Talented Rebels
Ford might be bringing his most talented team to Richmond Hill. The Rebels (8-3, 7-1 Region 1-5A a year ago) averaged a school-record 37.9 points a game and have many of their key contributors back, led by 1,000-yard rusher Jmere Doe-Davis and a trio of veteran receivers led by Trayvis Hunter, the younger brother of Heisman Trophy winner and Jacksonville Jaguars star Travis Hunter.
Quarterbacks Matthew Dillon and Kris Swinney will replace productive Tucker Perkins, who graduated after throwing for 4,111 yards and 51 touchdowns during the last two seasons.
Can ECHS generate offense against the Wildcats’ defense, which returns leading tackler Jaylon Deal, a senior linebacker who registered 99 tackles with six tackles for loss and five sacks?
Six-foot-1, 310-pound Tre’ Brown, who has committed to Gardner-Webb, is hard to miss on the defensive line as well.
“Defensively, they’re sound. They’re so well-coached, you can’t trick them. You can’t catch them off guard,” Ford said. “They’re going to be lined up right and play hard and they’re going to read their keys.”
Wildcats’ offense
An experienced offense should make Richmond Hill doubly tough. Senior quarterback Gunner Mobley (1,454 passing yards, 11 touchdowns) begins his second year as a starter. He’ll target Eli Grant, a wide receiver and defensive back who is committed to Liberty University.
Cole Roy (Wingate) and Graeden Rush (Shorter) anchor the offensive line.
Benedictine transfer running back CJ Menzie should help the ground game.
It’s a tough test for ECHS defensive coordinator Jordan Mullis, who has installed a 4-2-5 alignment with Florida State-bound Jernard Albright literally and figuratively lined up as the star — a hybrid position that will allow him to defend the run and the pass.
Junior RJ Brown, a 6-foot-2, 290-pounder, keys the Rebels’ defensive line. Swinney and Doe-Davis make their first appearances at safety.
Tough opening test
“(Richmond Hill) is no cupcake,” Ford said. “If you beat them, it’s because maybe you made one or two more plays.
“It’s going to be a tough game down there. It should be an awesome atmosphere for football. It’s what South Georgia football is all about.”
