Spring Hill wins battle of Raiders over Richland

By Chris Yow

LYNNVILLE — Richland had every chance on Thursday night to knock off Spring Hill, but couldn’t finish the job. Spring Hill escaped with a 19-14 win in a game that was added to the schedule just two weeks ago.

“We preach to our kids about finishing, but we didn’t do that tonight,” Richland coach Nick Patterson said.

Trailing by five points with 2:28 to go in the game, Richland’s defense forced a Luka Boylan fumble, giving the host Raiders a chance to get a big win against a Class 4A opponent. A long pass play from Sam Edwards to Ethan Workman set up the hosts at the Spring Hill 33-yard-line. Four plays later, Edwards connected with Jack Norman on fourth down, but the ball came up a half-yard short of the line to gain, ending the comeback attempt.

“I asked for a spot, and I should’ve gotten one,” Patterson said of his team’s final offensive play. “I’m not happy about it, but we didn’t do enough. It shouldn’t have come down to that.”

Spring Hill jumped out to an early lead in the game. Landen Secrest went 19 yards for a score on the visiting Raiders’ opening possession, and Remone Kelley took a short Boylan pass 53 yards to pay dirt in the second quarter to give his team a two score lead.

**Spring Hill’s Landen Secrest (22) eludes a would-be Richland tackler on his first of two touchdown runs on Friday night. (Photo by Chris Yow / SM-Tn Sports)**

Richland then answered with a solid drive, finding themselves at the Spring Hill 3-yard-line. After a pair of negative plays with a jumbo backfield, that included lineman Brandon Adams, the Raiders were forced to try a pass on fourth down that failed.

“Our defense played very well in the first half,” Spring Hill coach Ben Martin said. “We let off the gas in the second half, and we can’t go into cruise control like that.”

Holding a 13-0 lead at the break, Spring Hill allowed Richland back into the game after a fake punt set up the hosts in good field position, of which they took full advantage. Running back Trey Walkington cut the lead to 13-7 with a 5-yard run in the third quarter on the ensuing drive.

Secrest, however, put his team back ahead with a brilliant 59-yard scamper down the Richland sideline. He finished the night with 83 yards on just four carries and the pair of scores.

“Landen had a big game tonight,” Martin said. “We thought we were a little bit faster than them, so we wanted to try and get the edge when we could, and we were able to do that.”

The two teams combined for 10 fourth-down conversion attempts, with Richland converting two and Spring Hill none in three tries.

Patterson said playing a team with the athleticism and strength of Spring Hill should help his team prepare mentally and physically for the remainder of their region schedule, which includes Huntland and Cornersville. Richland lost starting running back Austin Seals in the second quarter to a shoulder injury. He did not return, and Patterson said he didn’t have an update on the severity of the injury after the game.

Spring Hill now takes a two-game win streak into Marshall County next week, but Martin knows the test his team is about to take.

“We can’t get excited about winning two games right now,” he said. “Marshall County is the best team in our region, and we have to prepare for them like they are.”

Spring Hill 19, Richland 14
At Wayne Hobbs Stadium, Lynnville

SH 7 6 6 0 19
R 0 0 7 7 14

TEAM STATISTICS	R	SH
First Downs	15	11
Rushes-Yards	40-137	22-183
Passing Yards	121	126
Comps-Atts-Ints	11-19-0	11-15-0
Penalties-Yards	4-30	8-67
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-1