For the third time in four weeks, the outcome of a Rockdale Tiger football game was decided on the final drive.
Last week in Academy, the Blue-and-Gold failed to deliver as they lost 21-14 to the Bumblebees.
But this time in Rockdale, as the Tigers trailed 31-27 to Troy, sophomore Blaydn Barcak found senior Kobe Mitchell open in the left corner r of the end zone for a touchdown with nine seconds left in the game. Tiger Stadium erupted as the Blue-and-Gold d took the lead 33-31.
Rockdale ran seven seconds off the clock after purposefully not attempting their extra point, leaving two seconds left on the game clock for the kickoff.
RHS stopped the Trojans after multiple laterals, beating them 33-31 and earning their 10th straight trip to the postseason.
Although they escaped with a victory, the Tigers accumulated 75 yards worth of penalties, including one series where they accumulated 30 yards worth of defensive penalties and another defensive series with 10. Troy scored on both of those series.
“It really was a frustrating game because I felt like we dominated from the start,” RHS head football coach and athletic director Jacob Campsey said. “We just continued to give them life but we also played well enough for that game to be 42-14.”
“The thing about this group is that they never panic. They’re facing a scenario where if we don’t win, this is the first time in 10 years that we don’t make the playoffs and I’m so proud of their composure,” he said. “For a bunch of young kids to be able to come out and do something, that speaks to their character and that means more to me than anything.”
Top performers for the Tigers were Davioun Scott, who had 154 rushing yards on 14 carries and a touchdown and Mitchell, who finished the evening with 142 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns. Mitchell was also 4 of 13 from behind the center with 69 passing yards.
SEASON—On the year, Barcak has completed 91 of his 156 attempted passes with 1,462 yards and 16 TD. Junior Robert Owens is the leading receiver for RHS, with 33 receptions for 703 yards or 21.3 yards per catch.
LORENA—Rockdale’s final district game could be their toughest, as they head to Lorena, facing a team Texas Football magazine recently moved from eighth to fifth in their website’s list of topranked team in Class 3A-I.
Since going through non-district play 2-2, the Leopards have bombarded district opponents.
They opened the schedule with a 34-17 win at AHS before beating Troy 55-14.
Since then, they’ve defeated McGregor 63-0, Cameron 42-20 and Caldwell 56-0.
LHS is led by senior quarterback Ryne Abel, who has thrown for 1,501 yards in eight games with a completion rate of more than 68 percent.
Like the Tigers, the Leopards have a flurry of sophomore talent with receivers Jadon Porter, Kasen Taylor and Camden Brock, who lead the team in receiving yards.
On defense, their classmate Braylon Henry leads Lorena with 69 tackles as a middle linebacker, 44 of those tackles were solo.
With difficult games ahead, Campsey thinks they are up for the challenge.
“We haven’t played our best football,” he said. “I firmly believe that the last two weeks we’ve played the two best games of the year if we don’t give them things.”
“If we don’t jump off sides, give them first downs. We’re playing good football I feel like, we just have to clean up the ‘us’ things,” Campsey said. “Once we do that, our best football is still ahead of us.” Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
Stats from last week’s game are on Page 3B.
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