In a stark contrast from their first game of the season, Richmond Hill did not wait three quarters before getting their offense going. The Wildcats responded quickly to an opening kick-off return for a Savannah High touchdown and exploded to a 42-20 finish, giving the new head coach Lyman Guy his first win of 2010.
They did it with another stout defensive effort and a new found ground attack to go with the passing game.
Aside from the kickoff return, the Wildcat defense gave up two long touchdown passes on third and long plays, but that was pretty much their only vise. The defense forced a fumble early in the first quarter to set up the first score.
After Aaron Dixon’s fumble recovery at the Savannah High 25-yard line, Eli Thompson scored his first of three rushing touchdowns a few plays later from 4 yards out. Guilerme Santos kicked the first of his six extra points to make the score 8-7.
Richmond Hill was led in defense by Thomas Blige with six tackles, Lance Owens with five and Mark Smith with four. Joshua Miller, Kyle Greening and Nick Johnson each had an interception.
Richmond Hill would be set up by the defense on the next score when the Wildcats forced a punt at their own 1-yard line. The resulting field position led to T.J. Franklin’s scamper to the one yard line, and then Thompson’s second touchdown run to tie the score and the Wildcats would not look back.
Alexander Cruz made a nice catch of a 19-yard pass from Thompson for the next Wildcat score and then would score later on a 29-yard reverse. Cruz led the Wildcats with 86 yards of Richmond Hill’s 214 yards total rushing.
The Wildcats will need this kind of balanced attack and then some if they are going to beat Jenkins High School on Friday. Jenkins defeated Johnson High 27-20, Richmond Hill’s first opponent, last Friday.

Volleyball
Volleyball has a unique set of rules and terminology that the casual fan may not know about. So with the season’s action heating up, and the help of Wikipedia, we will define a few of those terms for our readers:
Ace - A serve that ends in a point with no return.
Kill - An attack or spike of the ball on to the opponent’s court that is not returned and results in a point.
Dig - The saving of a ball from hitting the floor in your side of the court.
Pass - The first offensive touching of the ball after your opponents volley.
Set (assist) - The passing of the ball to set up the attack, spike or kill.
Block - The return of an attempted shot, spike or kill by hitting the ball back directly at the net.
Richmond Hill fans will notice a few of the players who are starting to dominate in some of these categories.
Tarnisha Washington and Lindsey Vasher have been playing well at all things close to the net, while Sarah Goolsby has become the primary setter. Breanna Cota is serving up her share of aces and plays well at all positions. Regardless of the outcome the teams’ skill, hustle and enthusiasm are exciting to watch.
The Lady Cats won a meet at home last week 25-20, 20-25, 25-14 against Effingham County then finished off Windsor Forest 19-25, 25-9, 25-20. They headed to Armstrong Atlantic over the weekend for a meet in which they lost to Heritage, Harrison and Bluffton.
The Ladies will play at South Effingham tomorrow at 5 p.m. and will be in another tournament for “Volleyball at the Beach” at Glynn Academy on Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the softball team has hit a rough patch recently and can’t seem to win a close game. Four losses to Ware County 6-7, Wayne County 7-2, McIntosh County Academy 6-5 and Effingham County 6-0 has left the team with just one region win and has their hopes of returning to post season at risk.
The Lady Cats will try to right the ship against Brunswick tomorrow night at home a 5:45 p.m. start. They will travel to Liberty County on Sept. 14 for a 5:45 p.m. start.
The cross country team hosted its first race at the Richmond Hill Fish Hatchery last week but results were not available at presstime. They will travel to Jekyll Island on Sept. 11 for the “Border Clash Invite.”

Logan covers RHHS sports.