After losing its first two games of the season, Richards is starting to play like its traditional self.

Run the ball well and mix in the passing game when it feels necessary on offense. On defense, be quick, aggressive and hard-hitting and keep the opposition from sustaining any type of offensive cohesiveness.

All those traits were on display on Sept. 11 as the Bulldogs defeated Reavis 41-13 in a South Suburban Red matchup in Oak Lawn.

“I thought our defense played really well,” Richards coach Tony Sheehan said. “We have some key injuries and some guys are lost for the year, so we had to move some pieces around.

“I thought those guys really responded well. … I thought we ran the ball well. But I thought we got a little complacent after the first couple of drives where we could have put (Reavis) away. But we’re young and we need to learn how do that.”

On offense, Marquise Charles scored on runs of 46 and 4 yards while Jordan Lewis had TD carries of 25 and 3 yards. Quarterback Eric Jacobs scored on a 10-yard run and also threw a 75-yard scoring strike to Isaiah Flowers as Richards (2-2, 2-0) led 28-0 at halftime.

“Our two running backs played really well,” Sheehan said. “And Eric had another good day of throwing the ball. Once again, we lost somebody, so we had to take a couple of defensive guys and rotate them in at wideout.

“Isaiah Flowers had a big touchdown catch. We just have to rotate guys to keep them fresh for both sides right now.”

The Rams (2-2, 0-2) had an unusual score when Mikolaj Wrobel picked up a field-goal attempt that was blocked by Richards — but had not crossed the line of scrimmage — and ran 10 yards for a touchdown. Reavis also had a 20-yard TD pass from Nick Gutierrez to Ahmed Everette.

Gutierrez finished 5-of-7 passing for 44 yards. Everette had two catches for 26 yards while also rushing nine times for 35 yards. Juju Shahin contributed seven carries for 40 yards while also recording an interception and a fumble recovery defensively.

“They have an athletic defense that flies around the field and that gave us problems,” Rams coach Josh O’Shea said. “They did a good job of stopping the run and the pass. We had a couple of first downs early and then we had a good drive late that scored a touchdown for us.

“We controlled the ball most of the third quarter, but we had trouble stopping everything they were doing, too. They ran the ball really well and they threw the ball well. They’re athleticism really took control of the game.”