Richmond Hill’s Wildcats arrive at Donell Woods Stadium tonight to battle the Liberty County Panthers in a Region 2A-AAAA showdown at 7:30.
The visiting Wildcats come in undefeated at 4-0 overall while the home team sits at 2-2, but both will fight for their first subregion win of the season.
Second-year Wildcats coach Lyman Guy has guided his team to victories over Johnson High (27-0), Savannah (46-12), Jenkins (42-28) and last week against South Effingham (24-10).
Liberty has a 8-2 lead in the series, but Panthers coach Kirk Warner knows the Wildcats have a whole new look and a brand-new winning attitude.
“They are a lot more disciplined this year and they have some big-threat, big-play guys, so we definitely need to be fundamentally sound defensively,” he said.
Leading the Panthers’ defense is sophomore Raekwon McMillan, who has become a force to be reckoned with. He has tallied 36 solo tackles and 10 assists to date.
Javious James has 30 total tackles, 13 of which are solos. The Wildcats also will have to contend with Anthony Dabson, who leads the squad in sacks with six. Dabson, Cory Lazenby, Melvin King, Marcus LeCounte, Tay Tay Bacon and Rodney Goffney also have double-digit tackles.
Offensively, Warner said the Panthers will mix things up a bit between running backs Shadrach Thornton and Sam Carter and quarterback Jerome Grant.
Thornton leads the offense with 822 rushing yards on 90 carries.
On Sunday Thornton took his official visit to Kentucky, where he gave a verbal commitment, but added that he still wants to take his official visits to Georgia Tech and North Carolina State, according to various news reports.
“Kentucky was my first official visit, and I’ve got to factor in the distance from home and what are the pros and cons of each school,” he told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “I’m going to take my official visits to Georgia Tech and N.C. State. If I feel the same way about Kentucky after all of that, then I will pick those guys.”
Thornton will travel to N.C. State this weekend and Georgia Tech on Oct. 29.
Grant has 183 yards on 23 carries and Carter has 21 carries for 108 yards.
“If you look at our offense, nobody has stonewalled us yet, so we are going to do what we do, but the week off gave us some time to mend some bumps and bruises,” Warner added.
Tonight’s game is homecoming. Kickoff is at 7:30, and the homecoming ceremony will be at halftime.