Although their season- opening victory in August was followed by three straight losses during September, the Tigers played as if they had a clean slate on Friday night, when they battled Franklin, the topranked team in Class 3A-II.
The Blue-and-Gold ended the night with a 63-42 loss, but thi rdyear head coach Jacob Campsey felt his group’s district opene r showed that they are “beginning to look like a good football team.”
“We made such huge strides from (the Jim Ned game),” Campsey said. “This was the No. 1 team in the state coming in here and this was a game until the buzzer hit zero.”
From the beginning, Rockdale challenged the Lions, forcing the state’s front-runners to keep up with the speed of Timothy Grice. The RHS sophomore scored the first points of the game on a 29-yard run up the left side of the field. Despite the unsuccessful extra point attempt that followed, RHS led 6-0 with 8:45 left in the first quarter.
Franklin pulled ahead later in the quarter when Baylor-commit Br yson Washington scored on a goal line push with 4:03 left in the first. The Lions were able to extend that lead to 14-6 when Ike Eaton scored on a 19-yard run with 2:23 to play in the first.
Members of the Big Blue were far from deterred, immediately marching down the field on an eightplay, 62-yard dr i v e that ended with a Blaydn Barcak lateral pass to Rober t Owens, who then found freshman De’Andre Stephens down the field for a 43-yard touchdown with 10:08 left in the first half. A good extra point kicked by Daniel Romero made the score, 14-13.
The Lions responded a minute later, when Collin Smitherman scored on a 33-yard run.
RHS punched back when Kemar Spencer scored on a two-yard run with 4:05 left in the half. Rockdale tied the game at 21 when Barcak converted the extra point.
The first half came down to the final minute. Franklin had the ball on the Tiger 20 with 12 seconds left. Lowry threw a pass that Gerren Marrero intercepted in the endzone.
However, a penalt y against RHS put the Lions at 10-yard line with the same amount of time left on the clock. Instead of an attempted field goal by FHS, Lowry connected with Bo Jimenez for a TD pass to put the visitors up 28-21 at the half.
The Robertson County squad increased the deficit early in the second half, with a TD from Devyn Hidrogo and Smitherman’s second of the day, putting the top-ranked team in Texas up, 42-21 midway through the third.
Rockdale chipped away at
Rockdale at Troy
at Trojan Field
Kick-off: 7:30 p.m.
Tickets available online on Ticket Spicket app.
the Franklin lead with a one-yard TD run by Barcak but Smitherman answered back quickly scoring on a 50-yard run 11 seconds later.
Rockdale cut the Lion lead to 14 once again with a 56-yard bomb from Barcak to Owens but Franklin’s Smitherman clapped lead. caught his second touchdown pass of the evening to make it 56-42, but that was as close as it would get for the remainder of the night as the Lions scored once more to secure their second 22nd-straight victory. fight.
“I can’t say enough about our guys not caring about our record, not caring about whoever’s coming in here and preparing the right way,” Campsey said. “We’re becoming a good football team.
“I think that’s evident. We found some pieces tonight that and I’m super excited and super proud of the fight. We’re headed in the right direction.”
STATS— Stephens led the team in receiving with 105 yards on two catches. Barcak was 6 for 11, throwing for 197 yards while rushing for 50 yards on 15 carries. Grice was Rockdale’s leading runner with 83 yards on 12 carries.
LAST WEEK— Before facing the Lions, the Tigers lost to Tuscola-Jim Ned, 22-21 on Sept. 16 in a contest that JNHS came back to win in the game’s last two minutes. After the crushing defeat, the Tigers had a bye week to rest and reassess. “As a staff, we talked about coming off the field against Jim Ned in such a heartbreaking way,” Campsey said. “But we could tell from the get-go that our guys reacted positively.”
traveling to Troy.
The Trojans are 1-1 in dis- THIS WEEK— Tiger football hits the road this Friday, district play, coming off a 27-24 victory over McGregor. THS also played Academy close in their district opener, falling 45-29 to a Bumblebee team that was ranked earlier this season.
The Trojans primarily run the ball and have many experienced linemen on both sides of the ball including four-year starter Elijah Sunderman.
Game time between the two schools is 7:30 p.m.
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