Richardson Dominant in Win over New Telford State
Despite the QB controversy, all three competitors for the starting job saw playing time in a 50-21 win over newcomer squad New Telford State. Tucker Wolfe opened the game, playing the first two quarters, and helped the squad jump out to a 14-0 lead with a pair of red zone touchdown passes, each inside the five yard line. It’s certaiinly no stretch, however, to say that it could have been a much larger margin of victory, as Wolfe went one for four on passes beyond twenty yards, the one hit being a twenty six yard lob to a wide-open Kieran-Kweo Atkinson, who took it for forty four yards before being knocked out of bounds. Richardson’s defense, meanwhile, was stifling, allowing for thirteen yards in that first quarter. In the second, after a third touchdown pass by Wolfe, his second to Atkison, Richardson pulled their starting quarterback, whom had gone 25/31 for 227 yards, three scores, and no interceptions. His replacement? Ifeatu Chineze, the Banijan number one overall recruit, who had shown that, of the three quarterbacks, he was the best pure passer and their best man in crunch time scenarios. Despite it being late in the second, Head Coach Richard Steinheil let him turn loose for another touchdown pass, as Ifeatu dialed up Atkison for a bomb that traveled fifty four yards in the air before Atkison took it home for his third touchdown of the night, a seventy yard completion downfield.
With one half to play at 28-0, the game was far from over, but it was evident that Richardson wasn’t threatened by this team they were facing. And while it may have seemed cruel to continue passing the way that they were, their running backs weren’t the spot on this team that the coaching staff wanted to evaluate, it was the quarterbacks. As for starting runners Benjamin Morgan and Elijah Sampson, they had so far combined for seventeen carries for 71 yards, and they’d make that 72 for a touchdown after one of Chineze’s passes, this one to redshirt freshman Calvin Hale, went to the one yard line. Benjamin Morgan, the team’s starter, was the one who took it in, bouncing a power play to the outside. The lead grew then to 36-7 after Chineze tosses a two point conversion to tight end Gunther Krause. He’d get one more drive, where he found speedster Dylan Tweed for a score, as the lead Went up to 43-14
Late in the fourth, Derek McNair finally got his shot, up 43-21 as defensive third stringers were in the game now, and he guided his team down the field with 34 yards on the ground and 43 through the air, freshman tailback Vice Jackson III also taking the reigns on this drive as he contributes another 13 yards on three carries. The final score would come when McNair fired a dart to high school teammate, and friend, Calvin Hale, who hauled it in for the first passing and receiving touchdown of their careers, the sixth passing touchdown overall.
The game ended on a forced fumble on the ensuing kickoff when Judas Wolfson laid out the return man and took the ball away. McNair and Jackson were both given the ball a few more times, but it was in a chew the clock setting, and only one more pass was thrown. With that, a 50-21 victory that gave Richardson the NSCF’s best scoring offense despite having three quarterbacks. It should be taken as a grain of salt, based on their competition, but he runner-up isn’t surprising at all.
Overall, it doesn’t appear that there will be too many consequences for Richardson’s indecisiveness at the quarterback position, with a suddenly weak Big 8 conference staring back at them, but next week, and in week 6, it will, as these are the two games that will decide who will take home the Big 8 title, the two matchups between Cold Hill and Richardson.
Based on what we saw in the domestic season, however, Cold Hill won’t have a problem bringing down the Ranorian juggernaut. The two didn’t meet in the domestic season for the first time in six years after Richardson was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
What is encouraging, despite the competition, is that all of the quarterbacks performsd well, incumbent starter Tucker Wolfe having gone 25/31 for 227 yards and a trio of touchdowns, two of them to Kieran-Kweo Atkison. His yards per completion was low, but he is a conservative passer without a ton of arm strength, that was to be expected. It’s concerning though, especially when considering that three of his six incompletions were on deep shots. A team like the Buffalo will key on this, and play up on the line of scrimmage. All three of these quarterbacks have vey exploitable weaknesses, and with Wolfe, it is his lack of mobility and arm strength.
The second quarterback, Ifeatu Chineze, Banija’s number one recruit, did well himself, firing with an arm reminiscent of John Garrett, able to make every throw and going 12/17 for 204 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Two of his incompletions seemed like miscommunications that would result in interceptions against a better team, one was on a scramble, and his throwing on the run leaves much to be desired, and another happened when Chineze simply didn’t account for the free safety, almost as if he hadn’t even seen him. He showcased his own weaknesses as a quarterback too, if not as a passer. Chineze is vulnerable to complex or disguised coverages that last years quarterback, John Garrett, would normally be able to diagnose and attack, and is too confident in his own, albeit spectacular, arm strength and accuracy, which can result in interceptions when he thinks he can fit a pass into a tight window.
Finally, Derek McNair got the ball late, going 6/10 for 50 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing in six carries for 47 yards. He was impressive in his brief showing, but it’s doubtful that this performance will be enough to bump him up in the depth chart after the play of the other two quarterbacks.
Notably, of the six passing touchdowns as a team, Kieran Kweo-Atkison hauled in a startling three of them, with speedster Dylan Tweed taking a deep shot from Chineze to the house for one of his own, and tight end Gunther Krause taking in the last of the bunch, one from Tucker Wolfe.
So, here’s to hoping that the offense can perform the way they did in this one against Cold Hill. After all, they’ll need to.
Slowing down the Cold Hill offense seems like a bear of a task for anyone after this showing. But at the start of this contest? Not so much. TN University actually took an 8-7 lead in the first quarter after answering Cold Hill’s touchdown, and forced a three and out with a sack on the second drive, hitting another two point conversion. But Cold Hill’s Chris Dale, knowing that the game was far from over, didn’t panic, going for the extra point after his team scored a second time. Whether it showed the other team that there was absolutely zero concern about losing this game, or if Cold Hill simply woke up, is up for debate. But Thorn Davis was unstoppable from that point forward, and the defense racked up a startling ten sacks throughout the contest, shutting TN State out in the final three quarters.
Sophomore runner Hue Ross was impressive as well, tallying twenty seven carries for one hundred and forty yards and a touchdown to go along with six catches for seventy two yards. And, just in case we forgot to mention, Thorn Davis was 33/45 for 422 yards and five touchdown passes, along with sixty rushing yards on nine carries and another touchdown.
The defense also, though, more impressively, hauled in three nterceptions. One was taken in by linebacker Jakeem Butler, and the other two were picked off by corners Clarence von Arris, younger brother of RFL perennial all-pro Alexander bin Arria, and Klara North, Ranorian College Football’s first ever female player.
More than likely, this Cold Hill squad is going to take the Big 8 conference by storm, so hold onto your hats, because they aren’t stopping any time soon.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55379851/usa_today_9560621.0.jpg)
