By Kevin Price For GCS Athletics Glynn Academy couldn’t keep pace with Richmond Hill over the long haul Friday night as the Red Terrors fell 31-12 to the Wildcats at Glynn County Stadium. The Red Terrors (1-1) trailed the Wildcats (1-0) just 18-12 at halftime, but were held scoreless over the final two quarters while the visitors pulled away for the 31-12 victory in the non-league game between the former region rivals. The game, which was played in a rain shower for some of the second half following a rainy afternoon in the Golden Isles, was the home opener for the Terrors who kicked off their season with a 16-10 win over Wayne County last Friday in Jesup. Richmond Hill, which has high expectations this season with a senior-laden team and a host of returning starters, was playing its first game of the season after having an open date last week. “They’re good. They’ve got a good football team,” said GA head coach Rocky Hidalgo. “They’ve got 1,000 more kids in their school than we do, and they’ve been playing in Region 1 (in the largest class) the last two years. They’re good.” The Wildcats finished with 441 yards on offense which included 405 yards from their rushing attack. Running behind a physical offensive line, two Richmond Hill ballcarriers ran for more than 100 yards apiece. The cat-quick Caleb Easterling carried only five times for 145 yards and two touchdowns while Joshua Troupe had 22 carries for 124 yards as the workhorse-back. Both Easterling and Troupe, the nephew of former Florida tight end Ben Troupe, are seniors. Kirk Scott, another senior and Richmond Hill’s starting quarterback, added 82 yards on seven attempts. Glynn gained 178 yards before halftime while going 65 and 54 yards for its two first-half scores. The Terrors would end the night with 221 total yards as Richmond Hill took over the game. GA junior quarterback Jayden Ellis finished with a team-high 24 yards rushing on 14 carries while going 5-for-14 through the air for 110 yards. “We’ve got three new players in the offensive line, and their front seven is really good,” Hidalgo said. “We kind of knew banging it in there wasn’t gonna be the option. “They’ve got a bunch of big people. I don’t know if you noticed, but they’re a lot bigger than us.” Despite their size disadvantage, the Terrors were in the game at halftime as they trailed by only six points coming out for the second half. Actually, Glynn could have been tied or leading at the half had they punched the ball in the end zone late in the second quarter with a first-and-goal situation from the Richmond Hill 3-yard line. But, the Wildcats kept the Terrors from scoring on four straight running plays to keep the lead going into intermission. Glynn tried to run a jet sweep on fourth-and-goal from the 2 after calling a timeout, but Richmond Hill stopped T.Y. Chisolm for no gain to turn back the Terrors. “They did a good job scraping from the back side,” Hidalgo said of the fourth-down play. “They brought the back side safety and fitted down. We were hoping they’d pinch it in there and we’d hit the perimeter and get them on the perimeter. But, that was a good call, a good job.” Hidalgo noted Glynn should have scored on one of their earlier plays, but a blocking assignment was missed by an inexperienced lineman which prevented a “walk-in” touchdown. The Wildcats, who deferred to the second half after winning the coin toss, went up two scores with a 51-yard TD drive to open the third quarter. Scott threw an 18-yard pass to his tight end, senior Colton Sanchez, for the score that made it 24-12. Sanchez was wide open over the middle on the play. Scott actually ran for a touchdown a few plays earlier, but a holding penalty on the Wildcats wiped out his score. Richmond Hill added another touchdown in the fourth quarter after Glynn was forced to punt from its own end zone. A 51-yard kick by Tuck Tucker was returned to the GA 38 where the Wildcats went on offense. They would score on a 6-yard run by backup running back Amire Miller who carried 10 times on the night for 56 yards. The Wildcats went up 7-0 from on their first series when Caleb Easterling went 77 yards for a touchdown on the visitors’ first offensive snap of the season. Glynn answered on its second possession of the game when Jayden Ellis found Shawn Wallace for a 34-yard touchdown pass as the junior receiver was wide open behind the Richmond Hill secondary. The Wildcats threatened the next time they had the ball, too, driving deep inside GA territory before Wallace picked off a Scott pass around the 5-yard line and returned the pick out to the 46 to give the Terrors good starting position. Glynn would cover the distance in just three plays. Ellis ran for 12 yards on first down. The next Glynn play was a lateral from Ellis to Wallace who then threw a pass to De’Sean Howard who would carry the ball down to the Richmond Hill 9-yard line. On the next play, Ellis kept up the middle to give the Terrors the lead with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. Richmond Hill answered immediately when Easterling dashed 42 yards on his second carry for another touchdown to tie the score 12-12 in the closing moments of the first quarter. Easterling, also a starter at cornerback on defense, had 119 yards and two touchdowns on his first two carries. Richmond Hill regained the lead almost halfway through the second quarter when it finished off an 8-play, 58-yard drive that used up 5 minutes and 9 seconds with a 27-yard scoring run by Troupe. The visitors kept the drive alive with two third-down conversions including one on third-and-12. The Terrors got into position to score a tying touchdown late in the half after a 49-yard bomb from Ellis to Wallace to start their next drive. But, GA couldn’t punch it in from inside the 5 and went into the break trailing by the six points. “We were good,” Hidalgo said. “When it was 18-12, I told the kids if we play good defense we have a chance to win this game. “But, we screwed some stuff up. It was really mistakes by us. When we got behind the second score, that made it tough. We had to throw some shots to try and get back in it.” Glynn will be off next week before beginning Region 1-AAAAA play on Sept. 6 at home against Bradwell Institute.