The third seeded Tigers football team heads to the 2018 UIL state playoffs against an underrated second seeded Grandview on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 1 p.m. at the Waco ISD Stadium.
The Zebras beat their last five district opponents by an average of 41 points. Their only loss in District 9-3A DI was in an overtime nail-biter 42-41 to the West Trojans for their district opener.
“In every game, you face adversity, and whatever team handles it best usually ends up winning. The main thing is that we need to play with confidence,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale High School head football coach and athletic director. “Even though we’re young we have to walk out there with confidence. Grandview is a really good team, but we certainly can be as well. I think if we do what we’re capable of doing. We’ll be just fine.”
The Zebras are led by sophomore quarterback Dane Jentsch who is 121 of 158 with 1,818 yards and 24 touchdowns in 10 games.
“With their passing game, we’re not going to do anything different from what we’ve done,” Miller said. “We just have to play better. We’ll put pressure on their quarterback, and hopefully we’ll create havoc in the backfield. Our goal is to get him to make bad decisions. It’s a simple approach. We just have to be good at it.”
Last year, Grandview made it to the regional finals where they lost to Kemp 13-10. Kemp lost 49-21 to Brock in the state semifinal game. Brock fell to the Tigers 45-29 in the 2017 UIL state championship game. The Eagles were up 21-0 early in the second quarter before Rockdale scored 45 unanswered points to win their first state title since 1976.
Many 2018 Tigers were a part of the offense that made that comeback, including Cayden McBride at center, and Quentin Hughes, who caught two passes for 59 yards. Torry Locklin and Jaquayln Crawford, the two players responsible for all of their rushing and touchdowns, are now college football players, and the coaching staff was tasked with replacing them and five other starters on a state champion roster.
This season the Tiger offense is led by sophomore quarterback Jace Robinson. Robinson is 81-160 with 1,560 yards and 19 touchdowns. Sophomore Cam’Ron Valdez and junior Kesean Raven have stepped up in the backfield. Valdez has 1,053 yards on 143 carries, and Raven with 401 yards on 30 carries. Junior wide receiver Ross Loth has also made his mark with 560 receiving yards and 23 catches.
Unlike the Tigers, the Zebras didn’t have to replace many offensive players this year. In addition to Jentsch, wide receivers Cooper Deans and Austin Boyd are back as his main targets. Grandview returns running back Tremayne Gullatte, who ran for 915 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2017.
On defense the Zebras were forced to find ten defensive starters and filled the void with players like Jentsch, who as of week eight, led the team with 56.5 tackles as a safety and middle linebacker and Michael Lehnhart with 47.
The Tigers also had to find new talent on defense. Rockdale went into two-a-days with five vacancies. Will Storey and Jackson Perry, who are veterans of the blue and gold state championship team, lead the team in tackles this season with 74 and 73, respectively. Texas Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Class 3A all-state selection Cayden McBride is back and has had 61 tackles and 3 sacks in his senior season.
“When you get to this point, you don’t make changes, you try to do what you’ve been working on,” Miller said. “We’re treating it as another game. We’re pretty talented, we just have to stayed relaxed and play hard.”
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