Football, softball, volleyball, and cross country all faced some adversity in this second week of fall sports but all provided  glimpses of hope for the rest of the season to their Wildcat followers.
For three quarters Friday night Richmond Hill football did not score against Johnson High School and failed even to pick up a first down. The Wildcat defense and special teams play did keep them in the game long enough for that offense to awaken in the fourth quarter and overcome a 25 ppoint deficit before the Wildcats ran out of time and fell 25-22.
By coach Lyman Guy’s own admission, the offensive play calling was not up to par. But his team was dealt a setback with the loss of Dominique Allen to injury earlier in the week. Eli Thompson got the start at quarterback and was unable to get the running game going from the start, usually Allen’s forte.
But Thompson is the quarterback with the arm and he proved it in the fourth quarter. After Alex Cruz’ long kickoff return set the Cats up in the red zone early in the fourth period, Thompson got the first score on a 1--yard run a few plays later. A successful onside kick later and Thompson was hooking up with Hank Ferndo on a 27-yard touchdown strike. Another defensive hold later and Thompson was moving the Wildcats through the air via Aaron Dixon, Evan Stone and finally Cruz on the final 25 yards for the score. David Katzman ran in the extra points to bring the Wildcats within three but 55 seconds remaining was not enough time to get the ball back.
Coach Guy said the defense played well in spite of being left on the field too long and special teams play stood out as well.
“The kids did not quit...this was a huge step forward,” he said.  
 The second step will come Friday night against Savannah High School at Wildcat Field, 7:30 p.m.
Softball began its busy week with 10-1 win over Brunswick but failed in another big region test against Liberty County at home by squandering a 13-strikeout, no-earned-run effort by Lauren Simerly. Trisha Jennings went 2 for 3 for the Lady Wildcats but the team totaled only three hits and more discouragingly committed six errors. Coach Sean Strickland called the  nine inning 5-4 loss a “tough one to lose” but was encouraged that his team would rebound. Over the weekend they did.
Richmond Hill beat Portal on Friday 9-7, lost to Heritage High School of Conyers 8-2, then finished the Statesboro tournament on Saturday with a first place Silver Bracket finish.
Statesboro fell 21-1, Metter 7-2, and Cross Creek 10-2 on Saturday to the tired and wet Lady Wildcats.
“It was a total team effort all week-end. Good hitting, solid pitching, and timely defense.” said Strickland on his teams improvement to 6-3, 1-1 on the year. The Lady Cats will be at Wayne County on Thursday, 5:45 p.m. and at McIntosh County Academy on Friday, 4 pm.
Cross Country traveled to Savannah on Saturday for the Saucony Kickoff Classic. The venue was likely the largest for the running Cats this season aside from state tournament competition that they are all aspiring to.
The Richmond Hill girls finished 10th out of 16 teams while the boys ran to a 12th place finish out of 18 teams. Both teams experienced a shake up in the top five runners from last week,  a trait that coach Levi Sybert hopes continues as his teams attempt to push each other in practice and in races.
The boys team average improved by one minute, five seconds while the ladies improved by 14 seconds. Shaquille Walker ran to a 20th place finish in 19:16 while Shanee McKee finished 17th in 23:38 for the girls.
Volleyball saw their early season record go to 3-3 with splits at Bluffton and Brunswick High School last week. Following the loss to Bluffton the ladies rallied with a (25-12), (25-17) set to beat Effingham County. On Thursday they beat Brunswick (27-25), (25-10) but then lost to Camden County (22-25), (16-25).
Thursday the Lady Wildcats will be at home for Effingham County and Windsor Forest a 5 p.m. start.