With stiff winds limiting its passing attack, Richards didn’t need to think twice about letting Pat Doyle spearhead its offense Friday night at Shepard.
Doyle literally ran away with the job. The junior running back finished with 257 yards and three touchdowns on 42 carries as Richards rallied to beat Shepard 30-27 in South Suburban Red action.
“I wasn’t expecting to get it that much,” Doyle said. “I thought we’d spread it around like usual, but I’m OK with it. I didn’t even feel like I had that many (carries). I’m still feeling pretty fresh.”
Richards (4-2, 3-0) trailed Shepard (2-4, 1-2) by as much as 13 points before Doyle found the end zone on a 4-yard scamper to cut it 20-13 with 37 seconds left in the first half. Doyle busted consecutive runs of 15, 16, 15 and 11 yards to lead the scoring drive.
“Doyle’s a workhorse,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “He’s the best player on the field and he showed it (Friday). He put us on his back with the O-line and really carried us.”
The Bulldogs received the ball after halftime and followed up with a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 2-yard TD run from Doyle to tie the game at 20.
“We thought (that drive) took the air out of them, going almost eight minutes,” Sheehan said. “To do that, seven-and-a-half minutes, that hurt them a little bit, but they were resilient.”
A 40-yard field goal from Andrew Calderon and a 2-yard TD run from Doyle gave Richards a 30-20 advantage.
Shepard had its chances to beat Richards for the first time since 1993. But trailing by three, the Astros were hit with 45 yards of penalties and were forced to punt, setting up Doyle’s final touchdown.
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“All season we’ve struggled with our run defense, and they were able to get that going,” Shepard coach Dominic Passolano said. “We had opportunities offensively that we needed to capitalize and we struggled.”
Shepard, which played without one of its best players in Demetrius Harrison, received strong performances from quarterback Jack Carberry and RJ Collins.
Carberry went 6-for-9 for 96 yards passing and two TDs. He added 81 yards rushing and two scores on nine carries. Collins finished with 91 yards from scrimmage, including a 22-yard TD reception on a play-action screen from Carberry to give Shepard a 13-0 lead.
“We didn’t key on any of their guys, but we realized they were doing a different blocking scheme than we were expecting,” Richards linebacker Anthony Quinn said. “Richards preaches 48 minutes. In my head, I was thinking I had to play harder to not let anyone down.”
Carberry made it a one-score game with 95 seconds left when he hit Dante Onsurez for a 22-yard TD, but Richards recovered the ensuing onside kick. Doyle ran for a first down and the Bulldogs went into the victory formation.
Richards has now won four straight, including three come-from-behind victories.
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.