The Richmond junior varsity football team will not repeat its unbeaten mark of last year.

Anson overcame a 15-8 halftime deficit to hand the JV Raiders their first defeat of the season and its first since 2007 in a 16-15 victory at Raider Stadium Thursday night. The JV Raiders were defeated by Pinecrest during the 2007 season.

Richmond dropped to 2-1 on the season, while Anson remained unbeaten and improved its mark to 2-0.

The Bearcats took the opening series of the third quarter and marched down the field by using a 13-play drive that was capped by quarterback Roderick Evans’ 4-yard touchdown run up the middle. Brandon Smith’s two-point conversion on a toss sweep gave Anson a 16-15 advantage with 5:46 remaining.

“I thought we had the momentum going into halftime, but they came out and took it back from us,” JV Raiders coach Steve Wood said. “We didn’t come out with the right mindset in the third quarter. We were satisfied and thought Anson was just going to lay down.”

Wood admitted his team squandered opportunities, including turning the ball over three times in the first half.

“The turnovers were huge, and we work hard every day trying to stop putting the ball on the ground,” Wood said. “But this time, we couldn’t overcome those mistakes.”

Despite the miscues, Richmond still had a chance late in the fourth quarter to win the game after getting the ball off an Anson turnover. Richmond defensive linemen Sedrick Belk came free on a inside blitz and hit Evans from behind, causing him to lose the ball. The fumble was recovered by Melvin Brewington at Anson’s 42-yard line.

Richmond drove the ball to Anson’s 5-yard line, but the Bearcats kept the Raiders out of the end zone. On fourth-and-goal with 26.7 seconds remaining, Todd Inman’s 22-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, allowing Anson to run out the clock.

“I thought at the end of the game our defense starting lining up correct, and we kept them from punching it in,” JV Bearcats coach Paul Curie said. “I thought we may have gotten a hand on the field goal, but we were able to force a miss and this was a great win for our program.”

Anson jumped out to a 8-0 lead on the first possession of the game. The Bearcats used a seven-play drive, capped by Omar Davis’ 5-yard touchdown blast up the middle and Smith’s first two-point conversion.

Richmond tied it up at 8 in the second quarter when Anson’s punter Diondre Pratt’s punt was blocked and Belk recovered the ball in the end zone. Donovan Jones, who had 124 yards on 17 carries, ran in the two-point conversion to even the contest.

The Raiders would later go ahead in the second when Ridge Sato scored on a 5-yard touchdown run up the middle and Inman’s extra point gave Richmond a 15-8 lead with 2:17 left before halftime.

But Anson scored the only points after halftime and its defense blanked Richmond in the final 24 minutes.

The JV Raiders return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday at Butler.

n Contact sports reporter Corey Davis at 997-3111, ext. 44; e-mail cdavis@yourdailyjournal.com