RICHMOND HILL -- They say cats have nine lives so only one could live after their tenth game that happen to be a GHSA Class 6A first round playoff game between the Richmond Hill Wildcats (4-6) and the Lovejoy Wildcats (5-5) on Saturday.

Lovejoy escaped Wildcat Stadium with a 19-14 victory of Richmond Hill, advancing to the second round of the postseason.

The visiting Lovejoy had all the momentum early in the game until Richmond Hill pulled out some tricks to put them back in competition.

Richmond Hill received the ball first but couldn’t get anything going, punting the ball to Lovejoy.

Lovejoy’s first drive was plagued by penalties, eventually being pushed back to their own 8.

The first scores of the game came within two minutes of each other - both were by Lovejoy.

After Trevon Kinchen bursted through a gap to make a 52-yard gain, getting Lovejoy in the redzone, Stephin Craig completed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Javon Kinchen to get on the board.

On the ensuing kickoff, as Ty Goldrick dropped back to pass, he was sacked, losing the ball as it was picked up by Lovejoy’s Elijah Chhoeung who returned the recovery for a 36-yarder to pull ahead 13-0 over Richmond Hill.

“That’s the difference in the game,” Richmond Hill Head Coach Matt LeZotte said about the slipup. “When you turn the ball over and they score a defensive touchdown and you lose by five that’s the deciding factor.”

Mistakes continued to follow Richmond Hill.

On a third down, Goldrick completed a pass to Ravon Grant before the junior wide receiver fumbled on the possession, allowing Lovejoy to jump on it.

Luckily for Richmond Hill, it didn’t turn into points.

Hayden McCullough was the guy to give Richmond Hill the shot in the arm that they needed, stopping Craig on 4th and 1.

Later in the second quarter before the half, Richmond Hill pulled out the tricks.

They allowed Zion Gillard, who was coming off a 210 rushing yard performance last game to pass the ball.

Gillard got a pitch from Goldrick and stopped and passed it to McCullough who was heading towards the endzone, catching the ball, and beating a Lovejoy defensive back for a 28-yard score to trim their deficit to 13-7 at the half.

“It was something that we worked the last couple weeks,” LeZotte said. “When you have a bye week, you can work on some stuff that isn’t in the wheelhouse and we were able to do that and had some things. We pulled it out them.”

Richmond Hill finally could pull ahead in the second half.

But they had to wait for a while.

Lovejoy received the ball first after the break and ran eight minutes off the clock.

But once Richmond Hill got the ball with 4:10 left in the third quarter, they went all out.

Goldrick and Grant connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass, with the receiver catching it and taking off downfield for a score, ending the third quarter leading 14-13.

“Ravon’s the best receiver in our region,” LeZotte said about the junior wideout who had four catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. “He’s a tremendous ball player and one of the top receivers in 6A and you got to find a way to get the ball in his hands. We were able to do that, but we weren’t able to do it enough. But he’s one heck of a player. Explosive. Dynamite. He’s got a really bright future.”

Lovejoy quickly took control of the lead again though, reaching the redzone before Craig targeted his receiver Keandre Hines, beating Tommy Bliss for a touchdown reception.

As the quarter went on, Richmond Hill tried to score but failed and Lovejoy wanted to run the clock out but couldn't do so.

That was until after Richmond Hill's final try to take the lead.

Goldrick looked downfield for Bliss with 2:40 left in the contest but his receiver was outjumped by Jekail Middlebrook near Lovejoy's five-yard line.

“It’s just a turnover,” LeZotte said. “We work on a bunch of different scenarios as a program, and we got to get better at executing those scenarios instead of trying to force things to happen. Whether it be through alignment or trying to do too much with poor eye discipline on defense or trying to force the ball on offense. There’s a lot of things that we could’ve done better today to execute as a team. The mistakes were just costly. Very poor timing. And we got to do a better job as coaches at preparing these guys.”

Richmond Hill couldn't halt Lovejoy's rushing attack, allowing them to run out the clock and clinch a second-round playoff berth.

“When you play playoff football, you can’t make the mistakes we made,” LeZotte said. “We played really well on defense after essentially one play. We would bend but not break. We just couldn’t move the ball on offense. Moving forward we got to get better. Lovejoy’s athleticism took over. They were dominant on the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. We just got to continue to work and grow as a program.”

Richmond Hill ended their season with a 4-6 record.

They won three of their last five contests of the season.

“I’m thankful for these seniors and everything they did,” LeZotte said about his now former players. “Those guys have come a long way this year and I’m proud of them. We’ll be back ready to fight next year. It’s tough when you finish the way that we finished and not be able to see these guys best game. I think there’s something attributed to preparation and effort that’s given across the course of a career is a lesson learned in 2021. I say that because you never know when your number’s going to be called or get the opportunity. But when you get the opportunity, you’ve got to be ready to capitalize on it. We’re going to be better at that as a program moving forward. But right now, we’re getting ready for the ’22 offseason.”

When Richmond Hill takes the field in 2022, they will be a member of the GHSA 7A classification.