For 31 minutes, 7 seconds of game time, Richmond was in a low-scoring slugfest with Oak Grove.

During the final 16:53, Richmond ensured its season opener didn’t end like it started.

Leading 12-10, the Spartans rattled off 18 unanswered points to win the Aug. 28 varsity 11-man football clash 30-10.

Having a “next-play mentality” was key to the scoring tear, according to Richmond coach Nick Persell.

“We didn’t play a very clean game all game long – penalties and turnovers at times,” Persell said minutes after the home victory. “But just lining back up and being able to play the next play like it’s the most important play of the game because it is, I thought we did a pretty good job of that there at the end.”

The Spartans not only scored the final points, but also the first points. After making a fourth-down defensive stand, they staged a nine-play, 67-yard drive, capped by Jacob Lieberknecht’s 23-yard TD pass over the middle to Malikiah Tharp with 3:14 left in the first quarter.

Tharp, a senio…