There was a noticeable difference on the home sideline as Rickards’ football hosted the Mosley Dolphins at Gene Cox Stadium on Friday, Sept. 5.
The Raiders’ head coach, Quintin Lewis, was nowhere to be found.
Instead, Rickards’ longtime coach called plays from the bleachers, situated at the 50-yard line in the Raiders’ (1-2) 55-41 Week 3 loss to the Dolphins (2-1).
Lewis suffered a tibial plateau fracture on Thursday, Sept. 4, when he was collided with on the sidelines at Rickards’ junior varsity football game. He said he will be back mobile in eight weeks.
“We’re playing for our coach. We’re not just playing for ourselves. We’re playing for our coach,” Rickards junior wide receiver and defensive back Davion Crumitie told the Tallahassee Democrat after the game.
“We’ve got to fight through adversity.”
Rickards and Mosley threw haymakers at each other in Friday’s high-scoring affair.
Raiders quarterback Jordan Kelley was involved in all six of his team’s touchdowns, passing for four and rushing for two.
The junior said as quarterback, it was his responsibility to “put the team on my back” once learning of Lewis’ injury. The Rickards coach is also Kelley’s uncle.
“It really hit me hard mentally,” Kelley said. “We were supposed to have a quarterback meeting at lunch, and he wasn’t there, and that’s how I found out about it. After that, I couldn’t really pay attention in class. I really took things personally and realized I had to put the team on my back.”
Wearing a cast on his right leg, a grin grew across Lewis’ face when he was told what his players said about him when speaking to the media after the game.
However, he deferred to others, saying he’s such a small part of the Rickards football program.
“That’s a great mindset to have,” Lewis said of Crumitie and Kelley’s comments. “But I tell them it’s not about me. It’s about each one of these individuals being successful, making something of themselves later in life. I’m just a coach. And I’ll be a coach here as long as they allow me to do it. They did a good job tonight.”
Rickards football offense on fire vs Mosley, defense can’t get stops
The Raiders’ offense ran like a well-oiled machine on Friday, with Kelley leading the charge.
Kelley’s four touchdown passes went to running back Karlise Price and wide receivers Crumitie and Aaron Johnson Jr.
The Raiders average 36.7 points per game through three games this season.
“We didn’t play badly,” Lewis assessed his team. “Offensively, we played very, very well. Moved the ball at ease. But had a bunch of key drops.”
Rickards struggled to stop Mosley quarterback JP Holsomblake, who connected with tight ends Adam Land and Fletcher Taylor all night. Mosley running back Samuel Chisolm also troubled the Raiders.
“Defensively, we blew coverage after coverage after coverage. That’s just a lack of communication on that side of the ball,” Lewis said. “They’ll get better at that.”
Rickards football moving forward with ‘hobbled’ head coach Quitin Lewis
Next up for Rickards is a road game at the Chiles Timberwolves.
On Friday, Chiles (2-1) defeated Wakulla 23-21 in Crawfordville.
“Every day, we’re back in the lab. It’ll look a little different because I’m hobbled,” Lewis said with a chuckle. “But we still have to be focused. We gave up 55 points today. We scored 41 ― you should win a game, without a doubt. To give up 55 is crazy. Mosley is a pretty good football team, and executed fully tonight. But we’ve got to be better defensively. We can’t blow coverages all night long and win the game.”
Lewis’ injury is just a minuscule adversity for the Rickards Raiders.
And they’re up for the challenge.
“It’s going to be like this for a while. We’ll keep working, playing for [Lewis], and practicing harder,” Crumitie said. “We’ve got to have integrity and practice when he’s not there.”
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Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Rickards football fights to the finish vs Mosley in unique game for coach Quintin Lewis
Reporting by Gerald Thomas III, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
