Richland recovers from slow start, tops Haltom to stay in hunt for district title

Richland junior C.J. Baskerville thought he had his first interception of the season last week in a win against San Angelo Central only to have it taken away from him when he said an official had ruled him out of bounds.

But, when the Rebels needed one play to help turn around Friday’s game, they got it from Baskerville.

Baskerville picked off an errant pass near the Haltom sideline to set up the first of four consecutive touchdowns for Richland as the Rebels scored 28 consecutive points to overcome an early 10-0 deficit for a 28-17 win at Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.

“I needed one (interception) this season, and getting that first one was a great boost for the rest of the game for us,” he said. “We got the ball inside the opponent’s territory and we were able to score from there.”

Richland trailed 10-0 before Baskerville’s interception set up a 2-yard touchdown run from Brandon Johnson to get the Rebels to within three points of the Buffalos with 5:31 remaining in the first half.

Haltom scored on its second series when Hunter Villavicencio booted a 21-yard field goal to cap off an 11-play drive to give the Buffalos a 3-0 lead with 5:13 remaining in the first quarter.

That lead increased to 10-0 when Haltom senior quarterback Adam Hill called his own number on a play in which he took off from the 13 and into the end zone after no receivers were open for the Buffalos just 45 seconds into the second quarter.

Hill threw for 124 yards and one touchdown on 13-of-24 passing in addition to 68 rushing yards on 18 carries with a touchdown.

The game got a little sloppy with the teams proceeding to exchange turnovers on three consecutive possessions.

Richland’s Wil Fleischer scooped up a fumble near midfield although the Rebels were unable to convert that turnover into points as Haltom’s Aaron Ellis intercepted a pass in the end zone after the Rebels had moved the ball to the Buffalo 20.

Brandon Johnson ensured another takeaway for Richland didn’t go for naught. The Rebels senior tailback took a handoff from the 2 and ran for a touchdown to cut the Buffalo advantage to 10-7. Johnson’s score came shortly after Baskerville returned an interception to the Haltom 18.

“It’s funny, because the play before that, we threw one (interception), and I made a play suggestion to our offensive coordinator,” Richland coach Ged Kates said. “It was mine on offense that got us intercepted, but C.J. bailed me out. Players bail out coaches all of the time. Thank God he did.”

The momentum completely swung in Richland’s favor as Haltom was unable to overcome three turnovers.

Rebels quarterback Cole Benson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Slade Hamilton on an inside route and darted into the end zone as Richland took its first lead at 14-10 with 2:52 remaining in the first half.

Benson was only getting warmed up.

The Richland junior threw two more touchdowns in the second half on passes of 10 yards and 16 to C.J. Nelson to finish 20 of 41 through the air for 298 yards with three touchdowns after a slow start in which he completed just five of his first 18 passes.

“I had a pretty slow start,” Benson said. “It was rough for me. It was one of the worst halves of football that I have had. But we came in at halftime and we knew it was going to be good. We did well in the second half.”

Baskerville praised Benson’s turnaround.

“It was remarkable,” Baskerville said. “He came back in a big way. He got taken out in the first quarter and put the backup quarterback in. He was in the locker room and to himself. He was thinking to himself and he knew that he had messed up. He was reminiscing. He made up in a big way.”

In addition to his game-changing interception, Baskerville had a big hand in the Richland passing game, finishing with 10 catches for 133 yards.

So did the Rebels defense, which held the Buffalos to 246 yards of total offense and scoreless for the first 22 minutes in the second half — until a 16-yard touchdown from Hill to Kevin Elizondo with 1:20 remaining in the ballgame.

Richland improved to 3-5 overall and more importantly 3-1 in District 3-6A with Weatherford awaiting next week before what could be a battle for the district crown at Euless Trinity (7-1, 3-1) in the Nov. 8 regular-season finale. Haltom dropped to 3-5, 1-2.

“We had a rough first four games,” Baskerville said. “We played hard teams like (Frisco) Lone Star, ranked number one in 5A. That made us better coming in district. Then we had a big win against San Angelo (Central), the number one-ranked team in our (district). We’re coming together more and more.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 11:31 PM.