Football Recap: Academy of Richmond County Falls to Burke County in First Game of Season + How To Watch

Academy of Richmond County unfortunately couldn't capitalize on their home-field advantage in their season opener. They fell 46-35 to the Burke County Bears on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Musketeers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia football rankings (they are ranked 306th, while the Bears are ranked 102nd).

Despite the loss, Academy of Richmond County still got an impressive performance from Carson Hand, who threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns, and also punched in one TD on the ground. Ben Wright also helped with two scores in total.

Sean Vandiver was a one-man wrecking crew For Burke County. as he threw for 190 yards and three touchdowns while completing 92.3% of his passes, and also rushed for 57 yards and one TD on only seven carries. Those three passing touchdowns gave Vandiver a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Landen Wright, who gained 91 total yards and a touchdown.

Academy of Richmond County will have a little extra prep time after the loss as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on Thomson at 7:30 p.m. on the 29th. As for Burke County, they wasted no time getting back out on the field and have already played their next contest, a 44-0 victory against Cross Creek on the 22nd.