PHOTOS: Raider football shows ‘improvement’ in final 7-on-7 scrimmages

ROCKINGHAM — The final tuneup of the summer took place on Richmond Senior High School’s practice football fields Thursday morning.

Competing in their third 7-on-7 scrimmage and lineman challenge in the past month, the Raiders hosted Chesterfield, Douglas Byrd and Forest Hills high schools.

Head coach Brad Denson’s analysis of the trio of scrimmages was positive, as he noted it was a chance for Richmond to face “three good teams.”

As the shift of Richmond’s program continues to fit the mold laid out by Denson, the former Raider and first-year head coach said the focus of the scrimmages was to see how badly the Raiders wanted to perform.

“The big thing with 7-on-7s continues to be to see the guys competing and making adjustments on the fly,” Denson said. “We don’t prepare for other teams in these scrimmages, so it’s good to see the guys able to do that.

“We looked really good,” he continued. “Obviously there are things we’ve got to work on, but I saw improvement from last 7-on-7 on both sides of the ball. Everybody got a chance to take the field and get an opportunity to get something on film.”

In addition to competing, Richmond has been “taking our scheme we’ve been practicing and putting it to work” against live competition.

The Raiders, who have been practicing three days a week since school let out, are nearing the end of their summer offseason workouts.

When asked how he feels with the program’s overall progression, especially to this point of his young tenure, Denson said he’s pleased.

“I’m pleased with where we’re at and the progress we’re making on offense and defense,” he shared. “We are building some depth, especially on OL and DL because we’ll have guys going on both sides.

“We’ve got one more week to go this summer before our first official practice. Our plan is to install a few more things and get ready to get into real football.”

Rising junior quarterbacks Evan Hodges and Domonic Tillman continued to share the responsibilities under center during Thursday’s action. Around the field, Denson noted there are several starting jobs up for grabs.

“There is definitely a QB competition,” Denson said. “They’re continuing to split reps and they get along great and cheer for each other, which is expected. They both help each other a lot.

“There are a lot of competitions at quite a few positions,” he closed. “We’re trying to get guys to play multiple positions so they can be moved around if we have to. It’s hard to tell at this point who is going to be where.”

The Raider football team, along with all sports programs across the state, will enjoy a mandatory dead period next week.

Summer workouts will resume July 22 before the first official day of the fall sports season begins July 31.

Below are photos of Thursday’s scrimmages, taken by contributor Camden Ratliff.