Miscues lead to shutout against Lee County

ROCKINGHAM — An early miscommunication during Wednesday’s Sandhills Athletic Conference soccer match hindered Richmond Senior High School.

That was head coach Chris Larsen’s halftime message to the Raiders, who fell 4-0 to Lee County High School.

Larsen noted Richmond’s confidence flattened after the Yellow Jackets took an early lead, only to stay there the remainder of the match.

Lee County scored two goals by Adrian Trujillio in the 11th and 21st minutes to take a 2-0 lead at halftime.

His first goal saw him gain possession after Richmond’s center backs failed to communicate and clear the ball out of the 18-yard box. Trujillio’s second goal was a rush into the danger zone.

Richmond’s best chance to score in the first half came when senior Landon Summerlin curved a corner kick from the right side on frame, but it was stopped in the 37th minute.

Fellow senior Noah Gil started the second half with a laser on goal along the right third, but it, too, was blocked.

Lee County (9-9, 6-3 SAC) scored goals in the 50th and 54th minutes. The first was by Christopher Gomez, which was a second-chance off opportunity after senior goalkeeper Adrian Padron made a stop on a penalty kick with his toes.

Trujillio recorded a hat trick four minutes later when an initial stop on a corner kick bounced into open space inside the six-yard box.

Trailing by four goals, Larsen entered freshman keeper Jake Gardner to play the remainder of the game.

In his varsity debut, Gardner made several athletic stops and prevented the Yellow Jackets from adding to their lead.

Richmond (4-12-2, 3-6-1 SAC) will now prepare for two road matches next week, starting with a trip to non-conference West Cabarrus High School (7-11-2) Monday. That match will begin at 7 p.m.

JV Raiders steamroll Lee County

Finding the back of the net quickly in Monday’s match opened the scoring gates for the Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team.

Five goals in the first half ended in a 6-0 victory for the JV Raiders over Lee County.

Scoring the first goal in the opening three minutes was freshman Javeon Littlejohn, assisted by freshman Bryan Mendoza.

Freshmen Kerick Hairston and Ari McLendon each scored once, sophomore Ben Tadlock netted a pair of goals and Mendoza added the final tally, the lone second-half goal.

Freshman Allen Franco earned an assist while playing the full 70 minutes.

“We came out on all cylinders,” head coach Bennie Howard said. “The first goal created a lot of chances and then it was a multitude of guys who scored.”

The JV Raiders (8-6-3, 5-2-2 SAC) travel to West Cabarrus Monday and start at 5 p.m.

Sports editor’s note: A correction to the score was made at 12:45 a.m. on 10/17/24.