Brayden Richardson: The Horsemen’s Horse

By Tom Pedulla–

Sleepy Hollow senior Brayden Richardson has long been viewed as an exceptional talent. Now, after injuries wiped out his last two seasons, he is finally proving it for the resurgent Horsemen.

Richardson has often been close to unstoppable as Sleepy Hollow eyes its first postseason appearance in more than a decade. In leading the Horsemen to four victories in their first five games, the fast and powerful 6-0, 208-pound running back has rushed 71 times for a whopping 803 yards and 12 touchdowns. “It feels good to finally be able to show people what I’m about and let them know I’m not a fraud,” Richardson said.

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As opposing defenses are learning, his talent is as real as it gets. He has accounted for 15 touchdowns in all, including a receiving touchdown, a punt return for a score, and a dazzling length-of-the-field interception return for a touchdown. “He’s very athletic and he does have a football IQ that puts him in the right place. Those are things you really want on your team, so we’re lucky to have him,” said second-year Sleepy Hollow coach Anthony Giuliano, who is overseeing a dramatic turnaround for a long-suffering program.

Richardson and the team had been incredibly unfortunate before this. Two years ago, he suffered a major injury to his left knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, in the opening game. Season over. Last year, in the second game, he fractured a bone in his shoulder. Again, his season was over almost before it began.

If ever there was a test of a young man’s fortitude, those injuries stressed him to the max. As upset as he was by each setback, he persevered. “He kept his enthusiasm for wanting to play,” Giuliano noted. “For a lot of kids, after going through it two times, maybe after the second time they would hang it up and say, ‘Maybe this isn’t for me.’ It goes to show his passion for football.”

Asked if he ever considered giving up on football, Richardson responded, “Definitely not. Football plays a big part in my family. I want to keep the family legacy going. I want to play in college. I just want to perform.”

Two uncles, Ted and Trevor Dimmie, excelled on the same home field where he is starring now. Trevor holds all of Sleepy Hollow’s major rushing records. He went on to Hofstra, where he ran so hard and so well from 2000-2003 that he amassed school records for career rushing yards (3,622) and single-season rushing yards (1,319). He was inducted into the Pride’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

Trevor, an assistant coach at Sleepy Hollow, helped his nephew cope with his two-year ordeal. “He’s been through a lot, sitting out two years in a sport you love because of a situation you have no control over,” he said. “To finally be out there and reap the rewards of all the work he put in in the offseason is nice.”

If Richardson can keep stringing together big games, it will be more than nice. It will be richly rewarding as more and more colleges become aware of the tremendous season he and his team are enjoying. Marist, Rhode Island and Stony Brook are high on the ever-growing list of colleges recruiting him. “His want to play at the next level goes a long way,” Giuliano said. “That’s been motivating him to do all the things he can do to stay ready and control the things he can control. That put him in the position he’s in now.”

With excitement building as Sleepy Hollow prepares to end its postseason drought, Richardson undoubtedly ranks among the region’s premier running backs. And that’s no hype.