Lower Richland football chops its way back into postseason

Normally in the first week of November, Tevaughn Higgins would be on the basketball court getting ready for the upcoming hoops season.

But the Lower Richland quarterback and two-sport standout, and the rest of the 21 seniors on the football team, were on the school’s new turf this week preparing for Friday’s first-round playoff game against Darlington.

This is the first time Lower Richland has hosted a playoff game since 1991, the year it made it to the Lower State final. The Diamond Hornets won their first region title since 1974 by finishing in three-way tie with Chapin and Dreher in Region 5-4A.

But Lower Richland won the tiebreaker and earned the No. 1 spot from the region after last week’s win against Orangeburg-Wilkinson.

“Just seeing those guys jump around and be happy after last week was special. You don’t see that a lot here. It is a big change from last year,” said Higgins, a member of the team’s state championship basketball team. “It is the blessing to be in the playoffs for the first time in a long time. I love the guys.”

Postseason trips have been few and far between for the Diamond Hornets, who last made the playoffs in 2012. LR won its first-round game that year but had to forfeit because of an ineligible player on the roster. Before that, Lower Richland’s last postseason win was in 1995.

Making the playoffs seemed like a long shot early in the season. Lower Richland went winless in coach Rodney Barr’s first season in 2016 and carried a 19-game losing streak into its third game against Airport on Sept. 1.

But the Diamond Hornets defeated the Eagles 24-18 and got a shot of confidence. The Diamond Hornets finished by winning three consecutive games.

“It’s been a battle and a struggle, but I think the kids really grew a lot stronger from struggles from last year and what we did early in this year,” Barr said.

“Not one man quit. We have kids who have been three-year starters, kids that don’t play a lot of snaps, but everyone comes ready to work.”

Barr emphasized the “Keep Chopping” motto to his team, and they have been able to do that this season despite facing obstacles. They were missing some players early in the season because of eligibility issues, and then lost leading receiver Deamondre Goodwin to an ACL injury in the middle of the season.

Higgins, a North-South selection, also has missed time because of injury and didn’t play in LR’s region opener. He returned the following week and put up almost 400 yards of offense and five touchdowns in the win against Chapin

“We have over 20 seniors and we said we were going to be the group that changes things,” Higgins said. “We really believed we could do something special.”

Barr hopes this season helps the program turn the corner.

“We are playing with house money at this point. I’m proud of the kids, if they come out loose and enjoy the moment, we will be OK,” Barr said.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Lower Richland football chops its way back into postseason."