Richmond Hill defeated Valdosta 35-14 in what is to be their last regular-season home win in their old stadium before moving to the new high school building and related sports facilities in Fall 2025.

Coming off of their first loss of the year at the hands of Camden County, Richmond Hill pulled off an upset against an undefeated Valdosta team which last season cruised to victory at 1 Wildcat Drive, defeating RHHS with a 24-14 scoreline during the 2023 season. 

However, with Richmond Hill’s senior-heavy team this fall, the Wildcats not only put up points against a stingy Valdosta unit, but were also able to limit the visitors’ heavy-run offensive attack when needed. 

But Richmond Hill is a run-heavy team in their own right, and it showed on Friday night where they collectively rushed for 226 yards and 5 touchdowns throughout the game. 

The stats:

The leading rusher on the night would be senior tailback Joshua Troupe. Troupe finished with 23 carries on the evening to go for 141 yards and 3 of the team’s 5 touchdowns. 

Caleb Easterling ran 6 times for 49 yards and a touchdown and Kirk Scott added 22 yards on 3 carries and a touchdown. 

The Plantation Lumber & Hardware Player of the Game went to Troupe, as he had over half of the team’s rushing yards and more than half of the total touchdowns scored on the evening. 

Scott would also add 27 yards passing, as well as 13 yards receiving, showing the senior quarterback’s versatility. Gunnar Mobley threw for 13 yards. Easterling added 17 yards receiving and Nick Swain had 8 yards. 

Defensively, senior Gabe Bauman led in tackles yet again, with 12 tackles and one sack. Lee Johnson had 8 total tackles and 2 tackles for loss. Easterling added 3 tackles and an interception. 

On special teams, Cannon Kuriya had a busy night from the five touchdowns the offense scored, and he went a perfect 5/5 on his PAT’s on the evening. 

Next up:

Richmond Hill is playoff-eligible once again this year. At 2-1, they currently sit at first in Region 1-6A for GHSA, and are tied with Colquitt County, Valdosta and Lowndes High, as all four teams have a 2-1 region record. 

After defeating Valdosta--who currently match their region record--Richmond Hill now has to play the other two teams on schedule that are tied with them (Lowndes and Colquitt County) before the season ends in pursuit of a region championship. 

The Wildcats will travel to Valdosta on Oct. 25 to take on Lowndes High School at Martin Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8pm.