Richton scored early and often against Sacred Heart in Friday night’s first half. After the Crusader offense went three-and-out on the game’s first drive, the Rebels took over and didn’t waste any time. On play one, junior quarterback Dylan Farve found Za’darius Mitchell for a long touchdown connection. And just minutes later, Malcolm Hinton scored a defensive touchdown for Richton, putting the team up 14-0 in the first quarter.
“Offensively and defensively, I think we got some things going early and jumped up on them pretty quick,” said Richton coach Stephen Rice.
Rice’s Rebels added 21 more first half points and took a 35-0 lead into halftime. Despite a late push from Sacred Heart in the second half, Richton picked up their first win of the year, 42-20.
Last season, Richton came up short against a senior-heavy Sacred Heart team. But on Friday, the roles were reversed.
“They lost some seniors last year,” added Rice. “We came back, and we’re a pretty senior-heavy team having 21 seniors.”
One of them, the aforementioned Za’darius Mitchell, got things cooking for the Rebels. Then, after Hinton’s scoop and score, Richton took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter.
There, the Rebels added three rushing scores—two from DD Griffin and another from Farve, who often looked like he was doing his best impersonation of Brett. Rice says he believes the two are related “somewhere down the line”.
“I’ve asked him that a few times,” said Rice. “Dylan is a junior and has really worked on his game this year. He’s really worked on his passing and his footwork.
“We knew he could run the ball, and that gave us an extra wrinkle tonight.”
As previously mentioned, Farve and the Rebels took a 35-0 lead into halftime. After the brief intermission, Sacred Heart seemed to put the first half behind them. Crusader coach Lonny Schraeder says that was the message at the break.
“I told them at halftime that I didn’t care about the score,” said Schraeder. “They decided that they were not going to give up and show some character and pride.”
The Crusaders scored their first points four minutes into the third quarter when Dylan Pipkins recovered a fumble and found his way into the end zone.
Soon after the the Rebels answered with their final score of the night. After Crusader quarterback Zach Weatherell was intercepted in the red zone, Richton’s offense took over at their own two-yard line. On the first play of the drive, DD Griffin pretty much sealed the deal with his third touchdown of the night—a 98-yard scamper to the end zone. Coming into Friday’s game, Rice says he challenged Griffin to finish the contest with 100 yards and two scores.
“He [Griffin] got them kind of early,” joked Rice.
The long touchdown run put Richton up 42-6 late in the third quarter, and Sacred Heart answered with 14 unanswered points in the remainder of the contest, making it a 42-20 ballgame. Tanner Blakeney and Garrett Crowder added rushing scores for the Crusaders, who actually won the second half, 20-7.
“They showed me something in the second half,” said Schraeder.
Schraeder’s Crusaders (0-2) will be back in action next Friday at Sumrall, and Richton (1-1) will hit the road for Enterprise.
