Rockdale looks to seek revenge on Friday evening when they take on the Giddings Buffaloes at Tiger Stadium.
“We’re going to have to play really good,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale High School head football coach and athletic director. “You don’t have to read too much to know how good a team Giddings is.
“They’re a top-ten team in a lot of peoples’ eyes. This is going to be a really good battle to check and see how good we are.”
The two teams faced off last year in a neck-and-neck battle at Buffalo Stadium that came down to the final three minutes when former Tiger Jackson Perry dived on a fumble in the GHS backfield in the final three minutes of the game. The fumble led to Perry catching an eight-yard pass a few plays later to make the game 17-16. Rockdale fell short on the next play when the Tigers missed an extra point to tie the game falling to GHS in the 2018 opener.
Like RHS, the Buffaloes return to the Gridiron with many familiar faces including eight players from their offense and another eight on defense back from their 2018 squad that went 11-2 and made it to the third round of the playoffs before falling to eventual state semi-finalist Silsbee 38-21 . The Buffs’ offense is centered around senior quarterback Alex De La Torre who passed for 1,450 yards and rushed for 650 yards with 26 total touchdowns last season. De La Torre is protected by offensive linemen Chris Sifuentes, Josiah Abrego and Camron Rimes, who all weigh more than 300-pounds and has experienced receivers Chad Adams, Drake Moore and Gage Jaehne who combined for close to a thousand yards last season.
On defense, the black-and-gold is led by Michael Fox, a defensive end who had 68 tackles and six sacks last season and linebacker Bryce Zoch who had 79 tackles in 2018. The herd also picked up linebacker Jaron Denmon, a transfer from Class 6A Dickinson.
SCRIMMAGE—Last Thursday, the Tigers had their final rehearsal of the 2019 season when they scrimmaged Mexia at their home fi eld.
Both teams made huge plays win Mexia quarterback Jaden Proctor scored on a 71-yard run. Rock-dale senior Levi Baggerly answered back when he broke away for a 70-yard touchdown after catching a 20-yard pass from Jace Robinson.
Unlike last week against Groesbeck both teams played two live quarters. RHS outscored the Black-cats 2-1.
Cam’Ron Valdez put the Tigers on the board in the opening quarter with a 34-yard touchdown run. The Tigers scored again on a short run by Robinson.
The scrimmage ended with a long run by Mexia with less than a minute on the clock.
“When we have the ball, we need to establish four, five, six yards at a time,” Miller said. “We don’t want to start living off the big plays.
Although sometimes you have to and it is nice to have the fire power to do that.”
Miller was also complimentary about his team’s overall effort.
“We’re in a really good place,” He said. “We are a little sluggish on offense compared to last week but Mexia’s a better football team.
“I don’t remember the first time I felt this good going into the first ball game of the season.”
Kickoff is at 7:30p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY—
Rockdale junior varsity and freshmen football teams play in their contest on Thursday evening at Buffalo Stadium in Giddings.
The freshmen team plays first at 5 p.m., and the junior varsity will follow at 6:30.
Rockdale Junior High teams play their first football game on Thursday, Sept. 12, in Lexington. The seventh grade team plays at 5 p.m., and the eighth grade group will start after them at 6.
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