Scotland's 2nd-half rally comes up short against Richmond

Oct. 28—LAURINBURG — The 56th meeting between Scotland and Richmond turned out to be another instant classic in the storied rivalry between the schools Friday night at Pate Stadium — despite a loss for the team at home.

After taking an early lead, the Scotland Fighting Scots allowed four consecutive touchdowns to the Richmond Raiders over a span that lasted eight minutes and 40 seconds on the game clock. The Scots made it a tied game at 28-28 in the fourth quarter, but a Richmond score just over two minutes later was the ultimate deciding factor as Scotland couldn't convert a fourth-and-9 from Richmond's 47-yard line on the ensuing drive and fell 35-28.

"Sometimes it's just not meant to be," Scotland head coach Richard Bailey said after the game. "I apologize that we didn't get it done for our community; I know how important it is to them. (I) apologize to our seniors."

The loss means Scotland (8-2, 4-2 Sandhills Athletic Conference) finishes in third place in the SAC, while Richmond (5-5, 5-1 SAC) ends in second.

"Richmond has some really big kids. And like I was telling our guys, they're a good football team," Bailey said. "And people looked at the records; they lost to five undefeated conference champs in their conferences, and they figured themselves out. This is the most physical front that we've really played all year, even more than Pinecrest as far as physicality with their D-line and linebackers. "You can lose a game and win going forward with what we did. We fought back. I'm proud of that. We'll just see where we draw (in playoff bracketing). We'll still have a home game or two. And hopefully, we'll bounce back next week."

Scotland kickstarted their comeback attempt with 2:15 left in the third quarter, when running back Zay Jones scored from 5 yards out to cut their deficit to two scores.

On the following drive, Richmond made it to Scotland's 12-yard line, but quarterback Domonic Tillman's pass was intercepted by Scotland defensive back Chase Odom to reverse the momentum. With 10:20 to go in the fourth, Jones got in the end zone for a 13-yard rushing TD to cut into Richmond's lead at 28-21.

After the Raiders got the ball back, they took it down to Scotland's 19-yard line on a run from RB Jaliel Green near midfield. However, a miscommunication on the second-down play led to a snap that Tillman wasn't ready for, pushing Richmond back to the Scotland 34. After an incomplete pass on third down, the Raiders were forced to punt, but again, an issue with the snap led to it going over punter Billy West's head and being recovered by him at the Richmond 45.

From there, the Scots marched down the field, and Jones put in another TD from the Richmond 2-yard line to even the score at 28-28 with 5:32 to go.

"I was proud of the fact that when we got down two scores, our sideline was so much better than it was against Pinecrest," Bailey said. "We showed character. We had some of the guys that have been sort of (the) ones that get out of character trying to be leaders. They all of a sudden weren't yelling and screaming at each other. I saw them picking each other up. And as a coach, it was what you want to see. And if we just do that and love each other and believe in each other, we can go somewhere. And this doesn't have to be the end of it by any means. We can make a good run. You've got to see the positives. We were down 28-7 and tied the game up."

Richmond's next drive didn't come without a score, though, as Tillman found wide receiver Jayden Hamilton, who made a leaping 28-yard TD catch with 3:16 remaining to make it 35-28.

"I had the four best cover guys (Josh Adams, Quatavius Everette, Shylan Harrell, and Keyshaun McQueen) in our program out there," Bailey said. "Had a chance to make a stop and get the ball back with a chance to win, and they just threw one over our head. We had a guy right there."

Scotland scored the game's first TD with 8:21 left in the second quarter on a 3-yard run by Jones to go up 7-0. After the Raiders punted on the next drive, Scotland had a chance to go up by two TDs as quarterback Ji'San McPhatter ran the ball on a fourth-and-1 on the Richmond goal line but was stopped short.

"Not scoring early came back to get us," Bailey said.

Richmond found the end zone in eight plays after receiving the ball back on a Tillman 2-yard rushing score, which tied the game at 7-7 heading into halftime.

Just 2:20 into the second half, Richmond went ahead 14-7 on a 42-yard TD pass from Tillman to WR J.V. Drake. After Scotland was forced to punt on the following drive, Drake caught another TD reception, this time for 91 yards, to put Richmond up 21-7 with 3:41 left in the third.

The Raiders added another score not long after that as McPhatter threw his first interception of the season on the ensuing drive's first play from scrimmage, with defensive lineman Zach Gardner taking it 25 yards to the house.

"That one pick was unfortunate," Bailey said. "He just got hit trying to throw it away. The receiver fell down that he wanted to throw it to, (which) made him hold it a little longer. That's his first interception all year. Just one of those (that) just happens."

McPhatter finished the night 8-of-16 passing for 144 yards, but he also had 86 yards rushing, the most he's had this year.

"We built that into the gameplan this week," Bailey said on McPhatter getting more opportunities to run the ball. "He did a really good job tonight."

Also having big nights offensively for Scotland were Jones with 35 carries for 171 yards, WR Dajuan Gibson with four catches for 84 yards, and Everette with four receptions for 60 yards; DB Chase Odom had an interception on defense.

For Richmond, Tillman was 8-of-13 for 227 yards, Green had 18 rushes for 146 yards, Drake had four receptions for 166 yards, and WR Bob Pegues had two grabs for 25 yards.

Friday night wasn't just memorable because of the two teams playing on the field; it was also because of senior night. Seniors from Scotland's football team and cheerleading squad were recognized on the field before kickoff with their families and friends, and band members* were honored during halftime.

The 19 senior players on the 2023 Scotland football team are QB Grant McCoy; Jones; linebackers Malcom McGirt, Matrice McRae, and Donovan Williams; tight end Kellum Hunt; offensive linemen Darreus McDougald, Jaedyn Millisock, Thomas Taylor, Aydin Singleterry, and Jake Clemmons; DBs A.J. McCallum, Adams, Quez Caldwell, Marlin Moore, and Odom; DL Zyquarius Shaw and Johnathan Graham; and punter Jarrod Pittman.

The eight senior cheerleaders are Mikayla Smith, Janaiya Brown, Grace Ward, Ny'Asia McQueen, Rylan Cromartie, Samayar Love, Iyana Wall, and Michaela Maiden.

Scotland will find out who they host in the first round of the 3A state playoffs next week once it's released by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on Saturday.

* = Senior band members' names were unavailable.