CAMERON—The 68th Battle of the Bell started off w ith a bang t hanks to Rockdale sophomore Tim Grice. He turned a handoff from Blaydn Barcak into a 70-yard touchdown 12 seconds into the game, leading to Blue-and-Gold fans erupting in cheer.
Howe v e r, the Blue-and-Gold couldn’t overcome Braylon Drake and the Yoemen offense, which retaliated with three touchdowns lon
after that and went into halftime up, 28-14.
In the second half, the Tiger defense hardly deterred the opposing team, who went up 41-14 before RHS scored again early in the fourth quarter. The evening ended with the game’s host keeping the Bell, winning the rivalry game for a 46th time by a score of 47-21. “Our kids played hard throughout, it wasn’t an effort thing,” Tiger coach Jacob Campsey said. “I think we made our defense play too many snaps because we weren’t able to get first downs.”
“At times, we missed some shots,” he added. “Opportunities were there and just weren’t executed.”
THIS WEEK— Although the Battle of the Bell is typically the most anticipated game of Rockdale’s regular season, this Friday’s match up with Academy is likely their most important.
With Cameron and Franklin battling for the district crown and Lorena sitting comfortably in third, the Tigers and the Bumblebees are battling for the fourth and final playoff spot in 11-3A-I.
AHS is 2-2 through their first four district games and has similar scores against common opponents with a 48-13 loss to Cameron, a 45-29 victory over Troy and a 40-17 loss to Lorena.
Academy still has the quarterback-receiver duo of Kasey Mraz and Scout Brazeal, who were a big part of their 2021 team that made it to the regional quarterfinals. Through eight games, the junior Mraz has racked up 1,744 yards with 13 touchdowns. Brazeal has caught eight of those 13 passes and has accumulated 655 receiving yards in seven games played. Other Bumblebee receivers to watch out for are Alex Lawton, who has 445 receiving yards and Zane Clark, who has 434.
On defense, Academy is led by linebackers Clayton Lawson and Lane Ward, who Texas Football magazine picked to be the district’s “Defensive Player of the Year.”
“They’re talented, went three rounds deep last year, and have a lot of players returning,” Campsey said. “They’re really skilled on offense and they’ll be challenging to stop.”
“Defensively, they’ve gone from scheme to scheme, so they’ve been searching and looking for what works,” he continued. “Academy probably has some size advantage, but we’ll have some speed advantage. When you compare their scores with ours, it’s probably going to be a good football game.”
Campsey says his team’s approach heading into the evening will be very important.
“Hopefully (our kids) minds are in the right spot,” he told The Reporter Monday. “If not, we’re going to have a meeting where we tell them, ‘I understand you’re 2-6 and 1-3 in district, but the truth of the matter is that if you win this Friday, the likelihood of you being in the playoffs is pretty dang high’.” “We have to approach it from this mentality and I know it’s not easy, it’ll take a little bit of mental toughness to get back up after Cameron,” he added. “We need to realize we have this opportunity. We don’t need any help to get to the playoffs, it’s in our control. We have a ton to play for still, we just have to get it done.”
K i c k off at Tiger Stadium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m GAME — Cameron fought back following Rockdale’s early scoring, tying it up with a drive that lasted nearly eight minutes. Yoe took the lead 13-7 when Drake and Armando Reyes connected for a touchdown on the final play of the first quarter.
Cameron went up 21-7 with 7:04 to play in the half when Drake linked up with Ja’quorius Hardman for his second TD pass.
Rockdale’s next possession was chaotic, but ultimately successful. With a fourth-and-six situation, the Tigers elected to kick a field goal. Although Daniel Romero’s attempt didn’t make it between the goal posts, the Yoemen got snagged for a roughing the kicker penalty. This gave the Tigers a first down with the ball at the Cameron 12 yard line.
Three plays later, Barcak found Robert Owens in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard TD pass. Romero’s extra point decreased Cameron advantage, making the score 21-14 with 4:50 left in the half.
The Tigers got the ball back before the end of the half, but their drive was short-lived as they were forced to punt from their own red zone. This put Cameron at the Rockdale 30-yard line. Even though the Blueand- Gold were resilient against the productive Yoe offense, the home team went up 28-14 at halftime when Drake found Charlie Mayer open for a 16-yard TD.
YHS padded their lead in the second half, going up 35-14 at the end of the third quarter. The score was 41-14 before the Tigers scored again on an Owens touchdown with 8:38 left in the final quarter. The Yoemen went on to keep the bell and win the rivalry game by a score of 47-21.
STATS— Grice led the team in rushing yards with 102 on 14 carries and one TD. Owens was Rockdale’s top receiver with 78 yards on five catches. From behind the center, Barcak was 8 of 25 with 110 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
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