It took the Tigers an entire half to acclimate to Lago Vista’s game. When they adjusted in the second half, Rockdale took down the Vikings 49-28 in the Lago Vista High School Stadium on Friday.
“We just weren’t ready to stop what they were doing. They played with more intensity and it sort of hit us in the mouth,” said Jeff Miller, Rock-dale High School athletic director and head football coach. “I think we were shell-shocked, trailing right before the half. Everyone seemed a little bit worried about what was happening to us.”
Rockdale scored first when quarterback Jace Robinson had a 34-yard run a little over three minutes into the game. Kicker Luis Iruegas missed the point after touchdown, but the Vikings took the lead near the end of the first quarter and didn’t relinquish it until the second half. Fullback Layne Powers scored on a nine-yard run, and kicker Bryce Erickson made the PAT to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Vikings recovered a Rockdale fumble, which led to another touchdown run by Powers for three yards. Erickson’s PAT put the home team ahead 14-6.
The Tigers were quick to answer back when Robinson threw a 59-yard touchdown to Quentin Hughes and Iruegas’ PAT put the Tigers at 14-13. The Vikings spent most of the quarter driving the ball down the field, which led to a goal line push by quarterback Nathan Wiechman for a one-yard touchdown. Erickson made his third PAT of the night, putting the Vikings ahead 21-13.
Before the closing of the first half, Rockdale scored when Robinson threw an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Ross Loth in the back left corner of the end zone. The Tigers tied the game with less than a minute left in the first half, with a two-point conversion by Brandon Hernandez.
“I had to remind the guys that you only get so many opportunities to play football. You’re only guaranteed ten times a season, and that they kind of wasted a chance in the first half,” Miller said. “Our backs were against the wall. We had to compete.”
Rockdale took over in the second from the get-go. Ten seconds into the half, running back Kesean Raven scored on a 60-yard run then Iruegas kicked the PAT, and the Tigers took the lead for the first time since the first quarter, 28-21.
Lago Vista got back down the field fast, but the Tigers stopped after stripping the ball from the Vikings on the Tiger 41-yard line. Hernandez
Reporter/Wynton Thomason scored seconds later on a 52-yard run to put Rock-dale in double digits. Iruegas’ PAT made the score 35-21.
“We started to execute,” Miller said. “And once we did that, we improved.”
The Vikings closed the gap halfway through the third quarter when wide receiver Sam Hurley caught a 45-yard pass from Wiechman. Erickson made the PAT to put Lago Vista within a touchdown of the defending state champions.
Rockdale was able to fend off the Vikings in the fourth with Raven’s second touchdown of the night, running 31 yards into the end zone a minute into the final quarter. Iruegas made his fourth PAT of the night putting Rockdale ahead 42-28.
Freshman Trevor Ever-age scored his first touchdown of the season on a 10-yard run and Iruegas kicked his fifth and final PAT of the night for Rockdale’s second District 10-3A win 49-28.
“You know, we have a target on our back…as we should,” Miller said. “We have to play. I think this game reinforced to our players that nobody’s going to roll over for us.”
Tigers vs. Trojans
The Tigers are preparing this week for the next game against Troy. The Trojans are 5-2 overall and 2-1 in district and the Tigers are 2-0 and 5-1 overall.
Troy lost their district opener to Cameron 49-36, and are coming off a 46-20 win against Little-River Academy.
They are led by sophomore running back Zach Hrbacek. In seven games, Hrbacek has already surpassed the 100-yard mark with 1226 yards along with 15 touchdowns.
“We’ll have to work hard to stop (Hrbacek),” Miller said. “He’s having an incredible season.
“We’ve also been working to stop their passing since their quarterback (Riley Cosper) is pretty good. In their district loss to Cameron, they were actually missing a couple of guys, including him.”
The contest with the Trojans is also Rockdale High School’s homecoming week, which brings a lot of pageantry to a crucial game for the Tigers.
“I give the guys the same speech every year,” Miller said. “I tell the guys that homecoming is for everyone at the game. We’re in the game, and it’s a game we need to win.”
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Tiger Stadium.
RHS 49, LVHS 28
RHS LVHS
14 First Downs 18 24-281 Rushing 60-240 6-10 Passing 2-7 106 Passing yards 55 387 Total yards 295 1-1 Fumbles 1-1 1-25 Punts 2-72 4-40 Penalities 5-40
Score by quarters
RHS 6 15 14 14 — 49 LVHS 7 14 7 0 — 28
Scoring summary
First quarter
Rockdale-Robinson 34 run (Iruegas kick failed).
Lago Vista- Powers 9 run (Erickson kick good).
Second quarter
Lago Vista- Powers 3 run (kick good)
Rockdale- Hughes 59 pass from Robinson (kick good).
Lago Vista- Wiechman 1 run (kick good).
Rockdale-Loth 11 pass from Robinson (Hernandez conversion good).
Third quarter
Rockdale- Raven 60 run (kick good). Rockdale- Hernandez 52 run (kick good).
Lago Vista- Sam Hurley 45 pass from Wiechman (Erickson kick good).
Fourth quarter
Rockdale- Raven 31 run (kick good). Rockdale- Trevor Everage 10 run (kick good).
RHS individual leaders
Rushing: Raven 6-115, 2 TD; Hernandez 4-63, 1 TD; Everage 11-58, 1 TD; Robinson 3-45, 1 TD.
Passing: Robinson 6-10-1 106 yards, 2 TD.
Receiving: Quentin Hughes 1-59, 1 TD; Loth 4-46, 1 TD, Raven 1-1.
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