The Tigers got off to a fast start in their first win of the 2018 season, 35-10 over Caldwell on Friday, Sept. 7 at Hornet Stadium.
“Our kids played well, especially after last week’s loss, I was proud of their maturity,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale High School Head Football Coach.
Rockdale scored their first points of the game on a five-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jace Robinson to junior wide receiver Ross Loth. Senior kicker Luis Iruegas hit the extra point.
After putting the Tigers on the board, Loth punted an onside kick recovered by junior running back Brandon Hernandez, giving the Tigers possession and comfortable positioning. Twenty seconds after the first score, sophomore running back Cam’Ron Valdez ran 43 yards into the end zone with 6:30 left in the first quarter for the Tigers’ second touchdown of the game. Iruegas made the extra point that followed, making the score 14-0.
The Hornets got back into contention on their next series, when senior quarterback Trent Stefka made his way to the end zone from the Hornet’s one-yard line. Senior kicker Omar Calderon made the extra point to make the score 14-7.
Rockdale scored again on a nine-yard run by sophomore wide receiver Kesean Raven. Raven’s run was the end result of a 10-play, 85-yard series. Senior wide receiver Will Storey caught a pass from Robinson for a 67-yard touchdown and Iruegas made both extra points.
The Hornets followed the Tiger touchdowns with 41-yard field goal by Calderon, making the score 28-10 at half time. Rock-dale scored once more in the first half on an 18-yard run from Robinson with 1:07 left in the half. At halftime, the Tigers led 28-10.
The second half was scoreless until Stefka threw an eleven-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Larry Davis with eleven seconds left in the game. The game ended shortly after with a final score of Tigers 35, Hornets 17.
“I thought we did pretty dang good defensively,” said Miller. “Offensively, it was more of a hit or miss. There were opportunities to score that we missed… but overall I thought we did pretty good.”
RHS vs. Lexington
The Tigers will take on the Lexington Eagles for their final game before district play begins.
The Eagles, ranked fifth in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, beat the Tigers 34-7 in Rockdale before Jeff Miller’s team went on to win the 2017 state championship.
Lexington made it to the regional finals before losing to the Boling Bulldogs, 35-21 in Brenham. Similar to Rockdale, the Eagles lost a lot of talented players on both sides of the ball, but are still led in the back field by senior running back Ja’ Kobe Cooper, who ran for 3,118 yards and had 39 touch downs in 2017.
The Eagles are also strong on defense with junior middle linebacker Aaron Allert, who had 202 tackles and 8 sacks in sophomore season.
Miller said that they have some kinks in their offense that he’d like to work on, but will have less time than usual to fix them with a Thursday game coming up this week. Miller said the weather will also play a role in how they prepare this week.
Kickoff between the Rockdale Tigers and the Lexington Eagles will begin at 7:30 p.m on Thursday, Sept. 13, at Memorial Field in Taylor.
RHS 35, CHS 17
RHS CHS
18 First Downs 16 31-220 Rushing 44-145 11-19-2 Passing 9-26-1 135 Passing yards 102 355 Total yards 247 0-0 Fumbles 1-1 7-37 Punts 5-39 13-110 Penalities 10-85
Score by quarters RHS 14 21 0 0 35 CHS 7 3 0 7 17
Scoring summary
First quarter Rockdale-Ross Loth 5 pass from Jace Robinson (Luis Iruegas kick) Rockdale-Cam’Ron Valdeze 43 run (Iruegas kick)
Second quarter Caldwell-Trent Stefka 1 run (Omar Calderon kick) Rockdale-Kesean Raven 10 run (Iruegas kick) Rockdale-Will Storey 67 pass from Jace Robinson (Iruegas kick) Caldwell-Calderon 41 field goal Rockdale-Robinson 19 run (Iruegas kick)
Fourth quarter Caldwell-Larry Davis 11 pass from Stefka (Calderon kick)
RHS individual leaders Rushing: Valdez 14-108; Loth 5-45; Robinson 4-39; Raven 3-19; Trevor Ever-edge 5-9. Passing: Robinson 9-13-0, 131 yards, 2 TD; Loth 2-6-0, 4 yards. Receiving: Storey 1-67; Raven 3-27; Quentin Hughes 4-27; Loth 2-14; Landon Towns 1-0.
10-3A-1 STANDINGS
Team Season District
W L W L Rockdale 1-1 0-0 Yoe 1-0 0-0 Jarrell 2-0 0-0 Lago Vista 0-2 ‘0-0 Academy 1-1 0-0 New Tech 0-2 0-0 Troy 1-1 0-0
Last week: Yoe bye; Jarrell 48, Florence 15; Lampasas 42, Lago Vista 7; Salado 34, Academy; Copperas Cove 7, New Tech Manor 6 and Lexington 49, Troy 28. This week: Yoe at Gatesville; Reisel at Jarrel; Comfort at Lago Vista; Academy at Hempstead; Crockett at Manor New Tech and Troy at Robinson.
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