Or at least with a win over their cross-town rival.

Richardson's ended with his knee on the turf, his hair dangling in his face every time he looked up to see the season a little closer to the end and his team a bit closer to a 30-7 loss to Pensacola High.

It might not have been the ending he envisioned but, standing on the field after the game, there's no despair in his voice.

He didn't get everything he wanted, but that's all part of it.

"It's been fun at Escambia. I would never change (anything) else, nothing about my high school," said Richardson, whose 124 yards on 17 carries gave him 2,087 for the year. "Everything doesn't go your way, you know? You've got to work for it. We worked hard, but I guess we didn't work hard enough."
It didn't look that way for Richardson, who threw his second pass of the season — an interception — ran over defenders and snatched the ball from his surrounded quarterback to scamper 51 yards on his final carry of the night.
Richardson, rated the nation's No. 1 running back by ESPNU, the nation's No. 5-rated player overall by ESPN's Scouts Inc. recruiting service, didn't need to make his mark on this game.
He was still nursing a bruised thigh, and the team's fate already was sealed. A win over PHS wouldn't have done Richardson any good when he's suiting up for practice next year in college.
He could have used the thigh bruise as an excuse to sit out, to not tempt fate with another injury like he's had the previous two years.
But that's just not Trent.
"He's a competitor. He's always been a team player, and he never gives up," Escambia coach Jimmy Nichols said. "I'm going to miss him a lot. I enjoy watching him run, watching him play. And I enjoy being around Trent."
He's not the only one. When the game was over, Richardson slowly made his way into the line to shake hands with the Tiger players.
When the Tigers got to Richardson, several of them broke the line and surrounded him. They patted his head, embraced him, encouraged him to keep his head up. In the middle of the group, Richardson pulled off his Escambia helmet, seemingly for the last time.
Other players took some of the final pictures of Richardson in his Gator uniform, forcing a smile on the field named after Emmitt Smith, the former Escambia running back and NFL Hall of Famer to whom Richardson couldn't escape comparison.
Unlike most of his teammates, there will be other games for Richardson, other chances for him to beat his rivals and win championships.
He has verbally committed to Alabama. If that promise holds, Richardson will be playing for the Crimson Tide next season. Alabama, currently ranked No. 1 in all polls, won Richardson's heart during a frenzied early recruiting period prior to this senior season.
Richardson knows this isn't the end of the road for him, just the beginning. And when he walked up that hill one more time to the locker room, it wasn't the last hill he'd climb or the last locker room he'd enter.
It seems like he wanted this one more for those who won't have the chance he will than even for himself. And he's learned that it takes more than talk to be a champion.
"It's taught me a good lesson," Richardson said. "You can't go in determined that we're going to be the No. 1 team. We didn't do as good as we thought we would. We didn't fight hard enough. I can't ask for nothing better than playing with these boys here."