With plenty at stake, Richards performs recovery act

Richards came into its regular-season finale Friday night knowing that a win over South Suburban Red foe Argo would mean a berth in the state playoffs.

The Bulldogs took care of business, exploding for four second-quarter touchdowns in a span of four minutes en route to a 48-12 victory at Argo.

“I’m very proud,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said after his team improved to 5-4, 4-2. “We had a tough loss last week (at Eisenhower), where we had the conference title in our hands and we let it slip away. There could’ve been a lot of pouting and not doing their jobs, but they came out to play today.”

Running back Marcus Smith (11 rushes, 90 yards) carried the load for the Bulldogs, scoring three touchdowns in just two quarters of play. His 22-yard run 1 minute, 32 seconds into the game started the scoring for Richards. Eight minutes later, he had a 15-yard TD run, bulldozing his way into the end zone.

“We were very fired up because a lot of people doubted us,” Smith said. “A lot of people didn’t think we would be able to make it to the playoffs. But we came out, we did our thing, and now look where we’re at.”

Joseph Ellingham’s 9-yard run put Argo (2-7, 1-5) on the board and cut Richards’ lead to 13-6. But Brian Hettinger’s 47-yard kickoff return set the Bulldogs up at the Argo 22. Two plays later, Richards quarterback Tommy Mister weaved 19 yards through traffic to set off the Bulldog scoring run.

Mister lobbed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Davonta Corner on Richards’ next possession. Deion Carter intercepted an Argo pass and returned it 40 yards for the pick-six 1:27 later.

An Argonauts fumble set up Smith’s 10-yard score to give Richards a commanding 41-6 lead by halftime.

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