The Rockdale Tigers are 0-2 but it’s still early in a season where they have a tough schedule not only against tough opponents but what also seems like too few home games. The Blue and Gold lost their second game on the road Friday night against the rival Taylor Ducks. The Ducks forget they are supposed to lie down against the twice state champion Tigers. The final score was Taylor 39, Rockdale 6.
To start the game the Tigers kicked off to the Ducks and the Taylor offense looked in total control as they marched down the field even if they had to settle for a 25-yard field goal, putting the Tigers down 3-0.
It was a mixed bag after that. The Tigers got the ball but failed to really do much on the offensive. Rockdale punted the ball after a fourth and long. The Tiger defense then held the Ducks, but when the Tigers got the ball back, they fumbled with the Ducks recovering.
Taylor struggled against the Tiger defense on the next offensive series. On a four th and long the Ducks were close enough to attempt a field goal but the ball hit the crossbar and the Tiger offense hit the field with under five minutes to go in the first quarter.
It was still a ball game at this point and the Tigers showed their offensive potential with quarterback Blaydn Barcak completing a pass to Tiger wide receiver Erik Sheppard in the second quarter. Not long after that there were a number of penalties, fumbles and interceptions that marked the Tigers for the rest of the night.
Lots of ups and downs in this game that was somet imes painful to watch regardless of how much blue and gold you have in your veins.
Taylor ran the ball for 10 yards in the second quar ter for six points, kicked an extra point making the score Taylor 10, Rockdale 0.
To start the second half the Ducks rushed for 4 yards, kicked the extra point and made it a Taylor 17, Rockdale 0 game.
Scoring continued in the third quarter as Taylor ran the ball 11 yards for a touchdown.The extra point kick was good, Taylor 24, Rockdale 0.
The Ducks scored twice in the fourth quarter, on two touchdown receptions, a successful two-point conversion and an extra point kick wrapped up the game. Again, the final score was Taylor Ducks, 39, Rockdale 6.
Rega rdle s s of how tough this Tiger defense is they could not prevent the Ducks from scoring in every quarter Friday night.
Athletic Director and Head Footba ll Coach Hunter Hamrick did boast of this defensive squad that was on the field a lot of the night, “They battled for 77 snaps, they fought from start to finish.” The determinat ion of this Tiger offense showed up in the fourth quarter as senior, veteran quarterback Barcak ran 18 yards into the end zone for Rockdale’s only touchdown. The Tigers tried to a two-point conversion but failed.
Tiger QB Barcak ended up with 17 yards of individual rushing and 201 passing yards for the night. Junior running back Sawyer Chalk had 98 yards receiving.
Tigers that stood out in this game were junior running back and linebacker Sawyer Chalk and senior tight end and linebacker Isaiah Sauls.
Depth and conditioning obviously continue to be legitimate challenges.
On the upside, a culture of never quit has been created in the Tiger field house and that shows up on the field, not only with this varsity squad but it’s there on Thursday nights in our freshman and junior varsity teams as well. We can thank the Tiger coaching staff and all of our Tiger players who obviously want to win ball games. No doubt it was a long bus ride home Friday night.
COMING UP— The Tigers stay on the road this week against the 1-1 Lexington E agles. K ick o ff i s at 7:30 p.m.
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