Story by Travis Jaudon, sports correspondent
For the first time since 2017, the Richmond Hill High School football team is 2-0. The Wildcats earned their second straight lopsided victory, winning 45-0 on Friday night in their home opener against Everglades High School out of Florida.
The Wildcats (2-0) took a 21-0 lead into the locker rooms at halftime thanks to a pair of touchdowns from Troupe and a late second quarter rushing score from junior Amire Miller, his second in as many games. Troupe’s first touchdown came on the ground and his next one came on a screen pass from quarterback Kirk Scott on a third-and-long snap from the Everglades’ 25-yard line. RHHS racked up nearly 300 yards of rushing offense one week after rushing for 420 yards. It’s no coincidence, says head coach Matt LeZotte.
“We return a lot of guys on the offensive line because we played about eight offensive linemen last year. And so those are guys that are seasoned and that have played. We've been able to really kind of build our team around that,” he said. “I feel like our defensive staff does a really good job of game-planning and coming up with an answer to the opposition’s scheme. Offensively, we have just adapted to fit our personnel, and to maximize our ability to enter a fourth quarter with a shot to win a ballgame.”
“If you're going to do that in high school football, you can’t sit back and throw the ball 45 times. It is built around running the football and that’s what we think gives us the shot to be successful well into the playoffs. It's really what we’ve identified as our brand of football and we're going to continue with it this year too.”
Since allowing 12 points in the first quarter of its 31-12 win at Glynn Academy in the season opener on Aug. 23, Richmond Hill’s defense has posted seven straight shutout quarters. A dominant first two quarters by the unit was followed up by another excellent showing in the second half. Senior two-way standout Caleb Easterling ripped away any lingering hopes of an Everglades (1-1) comeback midway through the quarter when he took an interception return more than 65 yards back for a touchdown, giving RHHS a commanding 28-0 lead. Another rushing score with 6:13 left in the third pushed it to a 35-0 advantage and allowed for backups to play much of the fourth stanza.
“Everything in the offseason is geared towards a toughness that's just a little bit different, and has a little bit more of an edge to it,” LeZotte said. “Our guys play with that edge and that surprises some teams I think. Win, lose, or draw, opposing coaches come up to me after games and say ‘I don’t know if anybody in the state plays harder than your guys’ or ‘I don't know if there's anybody in the state that's tougher than your guys.’ And we really hang our hat on that and place a premium on it.”
LeZotte’s team needed toughness physically and mentally on Friday. Both teams were penalized heavily in a tightly officiated and, at times, chippy contest. Richmond Hill was flagged 13 times for 130 penalty yards, mostly coming before halftime.
Troupe finished with 83 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He has 220 yards on the season and 1,273 for his career. Scott was solid at managing the game from his quarterback position, completing three passes–including the TD toss to Troupe–while rushing for 127 yards and a score on seven attempts. Sophomore quarterback Gunner Mobley also saw action behind center in relief of Scott. Mobley’s third-down completion to Easterling was critical during one of Richmond Hill’s touchdown drives. The Richmond Hill defense recorded eight sacks, led by three from Omar Khalil, three from Steven Robinson, and two more from Lee Johnson. Khalil and Johnson tallied a team-high six tackles apiece.
Located in Miramar, Florida, Everglades High School has approximately 2,040 students in grades 9-12; roughly 2,400 students attend Richmond Hill High School. The Gators began their 2024 season with a 24-10 win over Fort Lauderdale High School on Aug. 22 and finished with a 6-4 overall record last year.
Friday night’s game was the latest matchup against the sunshine state for Richmond Hill; it won’t be the last. Richmond Hill knocked off Creekside High School last season, 49-31, in an early September game with a Florida school. The year prior, in 2022, they lost a nail-biter at Baker County High School in Florida, 35-32. The Wildcats play host to Buchholz High School, also out of Florida, later this season on Sept. 20.
“You try to schedule games that are truly going to prepare you for what you might see in region play and beyond that, but there are a lot of factors that go into it. It's just about trying to find an opponent that's the right fit,” LeZotte said of his scheduling strategy. “This year is really like a ‘last hurrah’ in our stadium. We’re building a brand new stadium with our brand new high school and so we didn’t know what our schedule would be like this season there for a long time. (Everglades) reached out and it was a home game opportunity we liked.”
Richmond Hill plays at New Hampstead (2-1) next week (Sept. 6) at Pooler Stadium before returning home to host Wayne County in Week 5 on Sept. 13. In Year 10 at the helm of the program, LeZotte now has a record of 53-46 through 99 games; Game No. 100 comes next week in Pooler against a high-flying offense for New Hampstead.
“(New Hampstead head coach Kyle Hockman) has consistently scored points during his tenure there,” said LeZotte of New Hampstead. “He's a tremendous coach and prepares his guys well. They are going to be ready and have a tremendous gameplan. They certainly have all the pieces of the puzzle, including one of the better quarterbacks in the state (Rashawn Truell).”
EGHS – 00 - 00 - 00 - 00 – 00
RHHS – 14 - 07 - 21 - 03 – 45
Halftime: RHHS, 21-0.
Records: EGHS 1-1; RHHS 2-0.
Next: RHHS at NHHS (Sept. 6).
Travis Jaudon is a sports freelancer for the Bryan County News. You can reach Travis on Twitter/Instagram @JaudonSports or email him at travisLjaudon@gmail.com.
