Richmond Academy was down, but never out during their season opening football game against Laney. The Musketeers trailed by 12 going into the half, but they managed to overcome the deficit to win 14-12 at Lucy C. Laney Memorial Stadium. Much of that comeback had to do with the sheer talent found throughout the roster.
Junior quarterback Carson Hand, junior cornerback Carl Butler Jr. and senior athlete Lo’than McBride (all of whom made the Augusta Chronicle’s 2026 Dream 16) made key plays in the second half to will their team to the win. The three players are some of the best at their positions in all of Augusta, and they showed it in their season opening performance yet again.
“I think the key word is selfless,” said Richmond Academy head coach
Keenan Grissett. “When you have so much talent as we do, and you’re loaded at so many positions, egos can kind of filter in there. We didn’t do a good job of that early in the first half and it showed. Second half, guys went in [with] cooler heads, those guys went to each other and made sure we came out with the right attitude.”
Hand and McBride connected early in the second half with a 15-yard touchdown catch that got the Musketeers within five. The quarterback-wide receiver duo continued to make plays down the stretch in an effort that helped Richmond Academy take the lead with less than three minutes to go in the game.
The Wildcats, though, managed to get the ball near their red zone as the game clock winded down. On fourth and long, they went to the air to win the game. The ball was off line, and Butler Jr. picked off the ball to seal the comeback victory for ARC.
The win wasn’t perfect for the Musketeers. Hand threw an interception on the first drive that set up Laney to take the lead. There were miscues in the red zone and missed opportunities throughout the game.
But sometimes, raw talent is too much to deny. That’s what Richmond Academy leaned on in their Week 1 victory, and it’s what they will rely on throughout a regular season with tougher opponents than years past now playing in Class 5A.
The Musketeers and their talented core of players will head on the road to face Westside in Week 2 of the 2026 high school football season.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Richmond Academy football leans on talented core in season-opening win over Laney
