Receivers will be key playoff weapon for Rickards

Rickards quarterback D.J. Phillips gets a little advise from coach Quintin Lewis.
Photo by Edris Smith

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

Early in the high school football season, Rickards’ head coach Quintin Lewis stressed the need for the Raiders to start fast.

 
They’ve obviously fixed that, judging from the big lead they built against Chiles this past Friday night at Cox Stadium. But it took a Hail Mary 28-yard pass from D.J. Phillips to Kendrick Kelly for the Raiders to escape with a 26-21 victory.

 
All of a sudden there was flashback to one of the other concerns that Lewis had about his team.
Finishing. As in making sure there is no way for an opponent to come back.

 
“We just got lucky tonight,” Lewis said. “I mean, the lord was on our side tonight. We just didn’t execute the best we could.”

 
Indeed. But when talking about the Raiders’ receiving corps, it might be the one unit that played a complete game. After all, it was a pass play that saved the day to make them repeat city champions for a second consecutive season.

 
In fact, the Raiders didn’t have another rushing touchdown after Jaden Merritt’s three-yard run less than two minutes into the game. Marcus Riley made a 35-yard touchdown catch with four minutes and 37 seconds left in the second quarter to pad the lead.

 
Riley followed that, when playing on defense, with an interception of Timberwolves’ quarterback Avery Thomas and returned it 26 yards for a 21-3 lead after Jose Salazar tacked on the PAT.

 
Rickards squandered two opportunities that would have averted the last few desperate minutes. In the third quarter, the Raiders stalled inside the red zone and had to turn the ball over on downs at the Wolves’ 2 with 2:27 left in the quarter.

 
Chiles got a chance to score the go ahead touchdown with 6:02 left in the game, as Destin Coates committed an uncharacteristic fumble on his own 28 yard line.

 
Chiles scored 18 points in one of the most furious comebacks witnessed at Cox Stadium this season.
Chiles’ spurt culminated with 1:07 left, as Kris Reed pulled in a six-yard from Zach Morea. He found Reed again for the two-point conversion to put Chiles on top 21-20.

 
Then, it came down to Kelley with the catch that validated how much the Raiders will have to rely on their receivers.

 
“I just looked at the high point and focused on the ball,” Kelley said. “I was just trying to make a play to make us win.”

 
Lewis couldn’t have been more pleased.

 
“It was a great catch,” he said. “Amazing catch.”

 
For one thing, the Timberwolves proved there is a way to contain Coates, the leading rusher in the areas. True, he had 15 carries for 89 yards, but his runs were limited when the Raiders needed his big plays.
That convinced Lewis that his receivers will have to step up.

 
“We need a guy like Kendrick Kelly down the road to pull out that kind of win,” Lewis said.
The unit seemingly understands its role going into Thursday’s playoff game against Bay at Cox Stadium.

 
“We have to step up,” Kelley said. “We have to make bigger play. We’ve got to play as a team.”