Raiders Outlast Yellow Jackets 35-33 in Sandhills 3A/4A Thriller

The Lee County Yellow Jackets fought from behind the entire game and came up just short in a key Sandhills 3A/4A matchup.   Both teams entered the game with only one loss in the league and Richmond County jumped on the Yellow Jackets quickly to a 14-0 lead and had the Lee County playing catchup the rest of the night.  The Raiders led 14-0, 21-7 and 35-21 and each time Lee answered.  But two PAT conversions would fail, and Lee would come up two points shy.

Lee County would take the opening kickoff from the Jacket 31 in eight plays to the Raider 9 before a blocked FG would end the drive.  The Raiders answered with an 11-play 89-yard drive that would see Taye Spencer scoring from 4 yards out.   Richmond held the Jackets on the next possession and would score quickly on an 82-yard pass to Spencer for a 14-0 lead just 9:43 into the game.  

The final 2:17 of the opening quarter was a blur – with Lee County scoring twice on runs by BJ Brown from 67 & 65 yards, and another Raider score on a 66-yard run by Jaliel Green.  Both teams would score once in the 2^nd quarter – Lee County on a 35-yard Mark Schlesinger pass to Kendall Morris to tie the score at 21, and Richmond on a 27-yard pass to Jamarion Bryant – to make the score 28-21 at the break.

The Raiders took advantage of the only turnover in the game, when Lee County fumbled deep in their own territory, and Richmond punched it in on a 12-yard pass to go up 35-21.  Lee County answered two drives later with a 1-yard run by JoJo Jennings, but the extra point hit the left upright and left the score at 35-27.  Lee County held Richmond 3 and out and scored at the 4:25 mark on a 3-yard run by Brown.   The try for two failed and Lee trailed 35-33.  Lee County had Richmond in a 3rd and long situation in the final minutes and a seldom called unsportsmanlike penalty against Lee for trying to affect the snap count gave the Raiders a 1^st down and ended the game.  

BJ Brown led the Yellow Jackets with 276 yards rushing on 32 carries and the Yellow Jackets rolled up 489 yards of offense on the night.  Lee County is now 6-2 overall, 2-2 in the conference, and will face Scotland County on the road for the #1 3A seed in the state playoffs next Friday in Laurinburg.

Scoring

Richmond       21    7     7     0     35

Lee County     14    7     0    12    33

Scoring Summary

RC – Spencer 4 Run (Kick good)

RC – Spencer 82 pass from McBride (kick good)

LC – BJ Brown 67 run (Alonzo Hernandez kick)

RC – Green 66 run (kick good)

LC – BJ Brown 65 run (Hernandez kick)

LC – Mark Schlesinger 35 pass to Kendall Morris (Hernandez kick)

RC – Bryant 27 pass from McBride (kick good)

RC – Zimmerman 12 pass from Bryant (kick good)

LC – JoJo Jennings 1 run (kick failed)

LC – BJ Brown 3 run (2-pt conv failed)

Rushing

RC – Spencer 24-92, Green 4-81, McBride 6-24   Totals 34-197

LC – BJ Brown 32-276, Mark Schlesinger 11-78, JoJo Jennings 3-14  Totals 46-368

Passing

RC – McBride 8-13-155-3TDs

LC – Mark Schlesinger 8-20-121-1TD

Receiving

RC – Spencer 2-89, Knotts 1-2, Jenks 1-14, Hamilton 1-6, Bryant 1-27, Zimmerman 1-14, Smith 1-3  Totals 8-155

LC – Kendall Morris 3-62, Jayden Hill 2-35, Isaiah Peoples 1-4, Logan Walker 1-0, BJ Brown 1-20 Totals 8-121

• Lee County won the stat sheet with 489 yards to the Raiders 352.  Lee County rolled up 21 first downs to 16 for Richmond. 
• Lee County had four drives end inside the Raider 20 with no points – one blocked FG and 3 times turning it over on downs.
• Lee County committed the only turnover in the game with a 3^rd quarter fumble, and Richmond fumbled the ball 5 times during the game but recovered all 5.    
• BJ Brown increased his yearly total to 1648 yards and now averages 206.0 yards per game on the season.
• BJ Brown was selected as the Norman Financial Group/Bubba Subs and Pizza Offensive Player of the Game.   JoJo Jennings was selected as the Defensive Player of the Game.
• The Lee County Coach’s Show will air Tuesday night at 7:00 pm on WFJA 105.5 FM