Rickards continues playoff run with rematch at Wakulla
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer
If Rickards High School makes it to the Final Four of the state football playoffs it would do so by winning on the road.
But no victory – except winning the state title, of course — would be as season-defining as if the Raiders could get past Wakulla High School this Friday night. The Raiders will be looking for a bit of redemption, following a 20-13 loss a month ago to the War Eagles.
The stakes couldn’t be higher this time.
“We welcome the challenge,” said Rickards Head Coach Quintin Lewis. “We are going to prepare ourselves to win. We are very excited for this game and the whole community has been waiting for it after we lost the first time.”
Should they stay alive in the 1-5A playoffs, the Raiders will continue their travels to face the winner of Friday night’s game between Clay County and Suwannee.
Lincoln is the only other area high school team remaining in the playoffs. The Trojans beat Robert E. Lee of Jacksonville, 44-41. They face Lake City Columbia in the 1-7A semifinals. Lake City ended Chiles’ season 42-27.
Rickards opened its bid to reach the state semifinals by defeating West Florida High School, 42-39, in Pensacola at Marlon Bullock Stadium. The Raiders had to come back from being down twice by double digits.
The clincher came for Rickards with 1:54 left in the fourth quarter, as quarterback D.J. Phillips found Marcus Riley on a 55-yard pass.
Kalen Riles delivered the final blow on the Jaguars when he stopped West Florida’s running back Jaylen Allen deep in the Raiders’ territory. Riles jarred the ball loose and recovered it, giving Rickards possession with just a few seconds remaining.
Riles, who gets most of his playing time as a receiver for the Raiders, made eight catches for 112 yards and a touchdown. Riley had three receptions for 91 yards.
Ironically, Riley has been the one doing most of the throwing for the Raiders after taking over the starting job from Phillips at midseason. They spelled each other against the Jaguars.
The move paid obvious dividend for the Raiders with the back-breaking play in the last two minutes.
“It’s really just simple plays; stuff we have been running all along,” said Lewis. “We know that both guys can play quarterback and it’s really whoever is in that time with the offense. It was just a simple draw play to Marcus and he did the rest.”
One of Phillips’ two other touchdown passes was to Javon Wooten on the possession before Phillips and Riles hooked up. Wooten pulled in a 31-yard pass to reduce the Jags’ lead to one touchdown with 4:47 to play.
The comeback wasn’t surprising to Lewis who has seen the Raiders rally so many times this season.
“This team has battled through,” he said. “They always believe. This team is pretty good.”
