Focus on ‘competitive advantage’ for Raiders in playoff bye week

On November 9, 2024By Littum

ROCKINGHAM – In the past, bye weeks in November meant a team had secured a guaranteed trip to the second round of the playoffs.

While that may not necessarily be the case this season for the Richmond Senior High School football team, the Raiders have spent the last three days gearing up for their playoff run.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association extended the regular season by a week to give teams in the western part of the state time to finish their schedules.

Many teams, like Richmond, finished their 10-game slate last week and have had a down week to prepare for the postseason.

First-year head coach Brad Denson compared the unprecedented bye week to a double-edged sword.

“You can look at this bye week either way,” Denson said after Thursday’s practice. “We still have some bangs and bruises and it gives those guys a chance to get as completely healthy as they can this late in the season.

“Staying sharp and maintaining our competitive edge was the big focus for us this week. We’ve had a good week of practice with a new installation here or there, but nothing major. We just want the guys to stay ready.”

Head coach Brad Denson (left) calls out an offensive play during a two-minute drill during Thursday’s practice. (Kyle Pillar/The Richmond Observer)

Now more than 11 weeks since starting the season at Seventy-First High School, the Raiders have had to battle late-season fatigue with unexpectedly added time after a surge of momentum that has seen the team win seven straight games.

To help spur the team’s energy, Thursday’s practice was a combination of position group drills followed by game situation drills and some competitive fun.

While simulating game-like scenarios, the Raiders ran a two-minute drill that pitted the top players on both sides of the ball against each other.

“Today we had a good-on-good period, and we don’t usually do that during the season,” Denson explained. “I expected it to be chippy and it kind of was. But it was a good 10-15 minute period that allowed the boys to be competitive.”

To conclude the training, two competitions were held, involving both kicking drills and non-kicking players.

First, members of the offensive and defensive lines got shots from Denson. That was followed by players kicking field goals. The offense won both contests with junior Andre Anthony splitting the posts to seal the field goal challenge.

Although the Raiders don’t know exactly which other 4A team they will play to start the postseason, Denson said the week was spent preparing for all possibilities.

“To prepare, we practiced against both types of fronts — an odd and an even front,” Denson said. “Fortunately, our defense plays both of them and I told coach (Chris) Campo(lieta) for the defense to give us three- and four-man fronts and then mix them up today.

“It allowed our offense to decipher both fronts. For our defense, we threw a lot of what we do out on the practice field, and I feel like if they can play against that, they should be fine against whoever we player.

By the end of practice Thursday, Denson’s message to the team was clear.

“We have all the ability in the world to make it to a state championship,” he said. “This is now a one-game season, and there’s no ‘next week’ guaranteed. If you look around, most of these coaches have made multiple runs at a state championship, and they’ll tell you it was the best time of their lives.

“I don’t know who we’re going to play next week and I don’t care who it is,” he concluded. “But whoever it is, they must come here on Friday. And we have to be completely focused between the ears to play six more weeks of football.”

The Raiders (8-2) clinched the automatic SAC 4A berth and will host a first-round playoff game on Friday, Nov. 15. The NCHSAA is set to release its final brackets Sunday.

The Richmond Observer will publish a playoff preview when more information is available next week.