RICHMOND – On Sept. 18, Class 2 Richmond clashed with a Class 3 opponent, Southern Boone County, and in a bloody-nose donnybrook, came back to tie the game four times before the visitors pulled off a 38-24 fourth-quarter victory. “They came out and played hard,” Richmond junior quarterback Keyshaun Elliott said. Spartans coach Nick Persell said special teams kept the score close. As an example, he mentioned senior linebacker Matthew Lopez providing his team’s first score on a blocked first-quarter punt. “That was awesome. That was a huge play in the first half,” Persell said. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively, and that blocked punt and score were just what we needed to get some momentum.” But Richmond’s offensive mistakes in the first half hurt: a mishandled snap, an unsportsmanlike conduct call and an intercepted pass. “Every time we got a drive started, there was a snap issue or a penalty issue,” Persell said. “We never could sustain a real drive in the first half –…