Rock bottom had to be last Sept. 7.

Line up the eight consecutive defeats that preceded it -- and the eight that would follow -- and none of them stung worse than Richmond Academy's last-second loss to Westside.

Richmond Academy lost that one by two points when Westside's 6-foot-6 tight end leaped in the air and hauled in a 25-yard TD pass with no time remaining.

"When that was taken away and I had to look at their faces, that was the worst," coach Chris Hughes said.

Perhaps nothing has hung with the Musketeers longer than that game, and perhaps nothing would be sweeter if Richmond Academy could snap its nearly two-year losing skid when it opens the season next week at Westside.

"We saw that game, and we were all looking forward to it," wide receiver Brandon Vereen said.

Richmond has lost 17 in a row and won four times the past four seasons.

It's been a long fall for the once-proud program that won state titles in 1951 and 1956 and has produced great athletes.

But not only do the Musketeers feel that they can win a game, they are talking about contending for their first playoff berth since 1998.

They have 87 players in the program, a group that includes maybe the top wide receiver combination in the area in Vereen (6-3, 200), a probable Division-I recruit, and Dee Howard (6-1, 180).

Hughes said he wants quarterback Marquan Medlock (6-0, 180) to give them a combined 15 touches a game. Medlock, meanwhile, "brings more athleticism to the position than we've had in five or six years."

No linebacker has played a varsity game, though Hughes said the pressure on that unit will be reduced because key linemen Jock Mitchell (6-2, 315) and D.J. Brooks (6-1, 320) both return.

"We are inexperienced (at linebacker), but their progress has been steady," Hughes said.

The Musketeers play host to Butler in Week 2. Should they not get by Westside, and should the Bulldogs lose their opener at Hephzibah, the game would bring together two teams who would have lost a combined 39 consecutive games.

Hughes wasn't thinking about that possibility this past week, liberally offering compliments as his team ran through its offense.

"These guys have the mindset they can be successful," he said.

Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.