Perry football: Brayden Richards' big night is one for the ages

Aug. 27—Perry football coach Bob Gecewich has coached many years in different parts of Ohio.

He has watched oodles of college games and has dabbled in NFL fantasy football now and then.

What Gecewich saw from Perry junior Brayden Richards in the Pirates' 60-32 win over Kenston on Aug. 26 trumps anything he has seen in his football career.

Richards scored touchdowns rushing, receiving, throwing and on a punt return. He also had a hand in four two-point conversions for the Pirates.

"I'm not sure I've seen that combination before," Gecewich said. "That's rare. Completely rare. Usually, you will see a quarterback get one rushing and one passing, but to do all those other things is rare.

Richards had a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown, a 38-yard touchdown reception from Walter Moses for a score, and threw a pair of two-point conversions.

And that was just in the first 1 minute, 42 seconds of the game, as Perry had a 16-0 lead before some fans got to their seats.

Richards also, in sequential order:

—Caught a conversion pass from Moses that gave Perry a 24-6 lead in the first quarter.

—Had a 24-yard touchdown run and the accompanying two-point conversion run to make it a 32-19 lead in the second.

—Ran in from the 1 to give Perry a 38-26 halftime lead.

—Threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Rockwell early in the third, then ran in the two-point conversion, and,

—Caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Studio for a 52-26 third-quarter lead.

In standard NFL fantasy football scoring, Richards would have had a 46-point night — NOT INCLUDING rushing yards passing yards and receiving yards.

"He woulda been worth a lot of points," Gecewich said with a laugh regarding Richards' fantasy football value in Week 2.

Richards was the starting quarterback at Perry last year, but this year is being moved around to multiple positions to best use his talents because the Pirates have another very capable QB in sophomore Moses.

"When you can move someone like him around, it forces the defense to make some decisions (on how to defend Perry)," Gecewich said. "It's cool how he has bought into all those roles.

"Both Jaydens (Studio and Jaden Hacking) scored last night, Charlie Rockwell scored, Owen McKoon caught two 2-point conversions. Hopefully we can keep spreading things around. It's just one game, but I hope it's a harbinger for things to come, right?"