Lee County faces athletic Richmond Hill in first round

LEESBURG — For the past month or so, the Lee County football team has faced one highly talented opponent after another.

In the span of four weeks, Lee County went up against perennial Georgia high school powers Northside-Warner Robins, Valdosta and Coffee. Each has a long history of sending players to high-level NCAA programs.

By winning the Region 1-6A title, there was some thought the Trojans would catch a break in the first round of the GHSA playoffs and draw an opponent that wasn’t so deep in terms of talented skill players.

Not so much this time around … except that Lee County matches up well against this opponent’s strong suit.

Lee County hosts Richmond Hill, a team with three Division I commitments, in Friday’s first round. In a round where region champions sometimes host teams with .500 or worse records, the Trojans (9-1) face a Richmond Hill squad that is 7-2.

Friday’s winner draws the Grovetown-Lovejoy winner in the second round, with Lee County hosting should it advance. Both of those teams are 6-4.

“They’ve got some good talent, some good skill athletes,” Lee County head coach Dean Fabrizio said. “Anytime you’re in the playoffs, it’s usually going to be a pretty good team that you’re playing.”

How did such a scenario pan out?

Richmond Hill won its first seven games, holding two opponents scoreless and two more to seven points each. A 12-7 win over Glynn Academy to move to 7-0 vaulted the Wildcats to No. 10 in the the Georgia Sports Writers Association Class 6A rankings.

The Wildcats, however, hit a wall of sorts after the win over Glynn Academy, which went on to win the Region 2-6A title. They dropped a pair of home games to end the regular season, losing 56-34 to Brunswick and 40-26 to Effingham County.

As a result, Richmond Hill, which had gained the inside track for a region title, finished tied for third in the region with Effingham County. The head-to-head result dropped the Wildcats to the No. 4 spot opposite Lee County.

“We know we’re going to have to refocus ourselves after the big (region championship) game with Coffee,” Fabrizio said. “One thing this region definitely does, it gets you prepared for the playoffs. We’ve seen some high-level competition these past few weeks.”

Richmond Hill runs a balanced offense, throwing for about 120 more yards than it ran for during the course of the regular season. But its biggest offensive threat rests in its passing game, with two receivers committed to FBS programs.

Sam James, who has caught 46 passes for 820 yards and 10 touchdowns, is headed to West Virginia. Justin Jeffery, who has 319 yards and two scores, is committed to Cincinnati.

The third Division I commitment is place-kicker Joseph Petrino, a Maryland commitment who is 36-of-38 on field goals and has a season long kick of 52 yards.

The receiving match-ups, however, play into one of Lee County’s strengths — the Trojans’ secondary.

Led by Michigan commitment Otis Reese, the Lee County secondary hasn’t allowed many big plays this season. Lee County hasn’t allowed an opponent to score more than two offensive touchdowns this season, with two of the touchdowns scored in the Trojans’ 31-28 loss at Valdosta coming on a punt return and an interception.

Keeping Lee County’s secondary from going into all-out pass coverage mode will be Wildcats running back Maurice Smith, a senior who has 1,118 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.

“They have several (strong skill players) at wide out, and their running back also has had a big year for them,” Fabrizio said. “They do present challenges for us, but hopefully our kids are up for the challenge. We had a big challenge last week with a Coffee team that was very diverse on offense. We’re just going to have to go out, play well and try to limit their big plays, because they certainly have big-play capability.”