GREENSBORO — It figured to be a high-powered offensive affair between Page and Richmond Senior.
It was, and in the end, Page had a few more bullets in its chamber.
The Pirates advanced to the fourth round of the playoffs with a 49-33 victory over the Raiders Friday night. Page will face Middle Creek, the 4AA East Region’s top seed, with a berth in the state championship on the line. Richmond concludes its season with an 11-3 mark.
“I’m proud of the way the guys kept fighting,” Richmond coach Mike Castellano said. “If you would have told me in June when we started we would have made this far, I don’t like the losing, but I would have thought you were crazy.”
Coming into the contest, the two teams had combined to score 80 points a game. After a relatively quiet first quarter, the offenses found their footing in the second and third. The Pirates and the Raiders scored 53 of the contest’s 82 points during this 24-minute period.
Both teams primarily took to the air to score against the opposition in the span, but they were also deadly in the return game. Richmond’s Quientel Goodwin returned a kick 90 yards for a score and Page’s Michah Gafford took the opening kick of the second half 99 yards to the end zone.
Gafford’s touchdown pushed the Pirates’ lead to 28-12 before the Raiders had an opportunity to possibly tie the contest. On the ensuing possession, Richmond marched 50 yards in four plays capped by a Leon Zeigler touchdown pass to Nakeem Mckenzie from 11 yards out.
The Raiders set up for what appeared to be an extra-point try, but instead attempted a pass for the 2-point conversion. Octavius Harris found Deandre Streeter in the left corner of the end zone, but the Raiders were penalized on the play. Castellano opted for the extra-point to trim the deficit to 28-19.
Page responded and drove inside the red zone, but Harrison Kiser’s 22-yard field goal attempt went wide right. The miss gave Richmond the ball at its own 20 and a chance to make the contest a one-possession game. After a 19-yard pass play from Zeigler to Lavell Ellerbe, the Raiders turned the ball over on a bad snap.
The Pirates took advantage of the miscue in just two plays as Will Jones connected with Diondre Overton for a 22-yard touchdown pass.
“That’s my fault, I didn’t do a good enough job getting the defense off the field,” Castellano said. “The offense, especially in the first half, did the best it could.”
Richmond still had some fight in it. On the next possession, Zeigler and Ellerbe hooked up again. This one was a 43-yard pass in the middle of the field. The extra-point try was unsuccessful after a bad snap and Page’s advantage was 35-25.
The Raider defense forced a punt on the Pirates’ next possession. Richmond’s offense went 3-and-out and was prepared to punt the ball back. Taking a page out of the Richmond special teams playbook, Page blocked the punt and recovered it in the end zone to seize control of the game.
Each team recorded a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Richmond’s final score came on Ellerbe’s third touchdown catch of the night. Ellerbe finished the contest with 10 catches for 202 yards.
“They made some great plays,” Page coach Kevin Gillespie said. “It’s good to beat a team like Richmond and move on to the fourth round.”
Goodwin rushed 18 times for 128 yards in his final game for Richmond. Zeigler was 14 for 29 for 236 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Javon Leake led the way for the Pirates, rushing for 235 yards on 29 touches. Leake scored two touchdowns. Jones was 13 of 21 for 147 yards and two touchdowns, both to Diondre Overton.
Reach managing editor Shawn Stinson at 910-817-2671 and follow him on Twitter @scgolfer.
