Sophomore running back Cam’Ron Valdez passed a thousand yards rushing in his standout performance in the Rockdale Tigers 44-22 victory over the Little River-Academy Bumblebees on Friday night at Taylor High School Stadium.
“Cam’Ron’s a really sharp kid,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale High School head football coach. “He’s matured, just like the rest of our younger players have, and he’s starting to become really comfortable in the backfield.
“He can do so much stuff, and it’s really fun to watch him when he turns loose. He also averages a little more than seven yards per carry,” he said. “That’s really impressive. Our offensive line does great blocking for him, along with our wide receivers who keep the safeties and corners away with their blocking.”
In the 2018 season, Valdez has rushed for 1,053 yards on 148 carries. He is second in rushing yards in District 10-3A DI behind Zach Hrbacek of Troy, who has rushed for 1,719 yards this season. The Tigers closed out district play with a 4-2 district record and 7-3 overall. They head into the playoffs seeded third.
On Friday, Valdez ran for 260 yards on 17 carries, and scored four touchdowns for the Tigers. His first scoring drive for 11 yards put the Tigers ahead two minutes into the game. Luis Iruegas made point-after-touchdown (PAT) to put Rock-dale ahead 7-0. Shortly after, the Bumblebees quarterback Jerry Cephus found Jaylin McWilliams open 31 yards away for his sixth touchdown of the season. Carlos Hernandez made the PAT to tie the game 7-7. The game stayed at sevens for the remainder of the quarter.
Rockdale built momentum in the second quarter, when freshmen Kobe Mitchell took some snaps at quarterback. After a series of sneaks, Mitchell, who wore number sixteen after leaving his number twelve jersey in Milam County, put Rockdale back on top with a four-yard touchdown run. Iruegas made the PAT, making the score 14-7 with more than nine minutes left in the half.
“Kobe gave us a change of pace, and the defense a different look,” Miller said. “We did the same thing against Cameron and it kind of got us moving a little bit. He’s a good athlete, and it was the same style we did with Torry Locklin, so it wasn’t anything that was new for us.”
Valdez made his second appearance in the end zone when he scored on a 49-yard run with five minutes left in the second quarter. Iruegas made the PAT to make the score 21-7. Less than a minute before halftime, Valdez caught a pass for 23 yards from Robinson to score his third touchdown of the game. Iruegas missed the PAT and Rockdale went into the second half leading 27-7.
“We kind of relaxed, and started scoring fast. It definitely got momentum on our side.” Miller said. “We got our playmakers out in the open, and they ended up being pretty dangerous.”
The Tigers continued to dominate in the third quarter when Robinson threw a pass to Loth for a 56-yard touchdown in the first series of the half. Next, Valdez crossed the goal line for a fourth time on his longest touchdown run of the season for 86 yards. Along with making both PAT’s, Iruegas also made a 41-yard field goal to put Rockdale ahead 44-7 going into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers held their lead in the final quarter of district play, and gave up two touchdowns to the Bumblebees. McWilliams scored his second touchdown of the game on a 35-yard pass from Cephus two minutes into the quarter. McWilliams also caught a two-point conversion pass from Taygen Jones to make the score 44-15. Cephus threw another touchdown pass five minutes later when he found Evan Barabas open for a 22-yard pass. Hernandez made the PAT to make the score 44-22. Rock-dale ran the ball to run down the clock, and secured third place in district 10-3A DI.
“We made mistakes,” said Paul Williams, Little River-Academy High School head football coach. “There were things we could control, and we didn’t do a good job of that.”
Miller said, “We talked all week that we need to get that chip back on our shoulder, and play with a lot of confidence this game. That’s probably the best we played all year. Moving to Taylor was also really big. If we played in Academy, neither team would’ve been able to do anything. It was that bad.”
The game was moved to Taylor High School on Friday afternoon after heavy rainfall the day before made John Glover Field in Academy unplayable.
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