Tigers throttle Hyde Park 66-7 in their own domain

Quarterback Jace Robinson broke the RHS passing record for a single game in Rockdale’s 66-7 route of Hyde Park.

Robinson tied Clayton’s Gibb’s six touchdown pass record in the first half of Friday night’s game at Tiger Stadium, and completed the seventh pass in the second half.

His teammates Cam’Ron Valdez and Kesean Raven had three touchdowns each for the Tigers and Ross Loth had two.

“What a game by so many people,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale football coach and athletic director. “We have some people on our team that can do some dynamic stuff and tonight we really showed that.”

Valdez got the party started with a one-yard touchdown run thanks behind Cole Rickman’s blocks. Loth made the point-after-touchdown (PAT) to make the game 7-0.

Chase Mayfield’s recovered a fumble at the Hyde Park 42-yard line led to Robinson’s first TD pass of the night on a 20-yard throw to Kesean Raven. The game was 13-0 after a missed PAT.

Less than two minutes later, Robinson and Raven tandem scored on a slant pass over the middle for 21-yards. RHS missed the PAT and led 19-0 with more than four minutes left in the first quarter.

Robinson threw a 31-yard pass to Ross Loth, who took it up the sideline for his first touchdown of the night. Loth made the PAT to put his team up 26-0. Valdez scored another touchdown before the close of the quarter on a two-yard run. The kick was blocked to make the score 32-0.

Early in the second, Hyde Park scored their only touchdown when Ryan Williamson found Jax Guyett open on a post-pattern for a 34-yard touchdown. Kicker Zach Long made the PAT to put the Panthers within 25 points of Rockdale.

Three minutes later, Loth caught a 22-yard pass from Robinson down the left side of the field for his second touchdown. He made the PAT.

Robinson tied Gibbs’ record with two long passes in the quarter. The first on a screen pass to Valdez, who ran for a 67-yard TD. The junior QB then found Raven open on a jet sweep that he brought back to the house for 75-yards. RHS went into halftime up 52-7.

The Tigers opened up the second half with Anthony Dansby returning a kickoff for 95 yards. Dansby caught Robinson’s record breaking pass on the next play 12 seconds into the half.

Miller took the starters out for the remainder of the game, and Kobe Mitchell took over quarterback duties and scored on a 47-yard run in the final minute of the quarter.

Jose Young had five carries for 35 yards and fellow senior Jabez Dunn had four carries for 24 yards.

“It was good to have a lot of kids play,” Miller said. “Everybody puts in the practice, so you like it when they’re put in the game.”

Robinson was 10 of 14 for 294 yards. Valdez had 11 carries for 111 yards and Raven had a total of 116 passing yards on three catches. All of Valdez and Raven’s yardage was in the first half.

Brandon Hernandez led RHS defense with seven tackles. Ethan Hughes had two sacks.

“Both sides of the ball played really hard and the energy was really high,” Miller also said. “That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve played very solid. We didn’t take a break either and that’s something you tend to do when you’re playing someone that you’re better than.”

OFF-WEEK–Miller hopes to rest his players during this bye-week before facing the stiff District 10-3A competition coming up in October.

“It’s so hot outside that we want to get off our legs and stay healthy, but at the same time we still have to get better at a few things because we’re not good enough to beat the teams that we have to beat,” he said. “We had questions going into the year, and we feel like we’ve answered most of them. There’s still stuff on defense that we need to solidify but I think we’re getting close. That’s what non-district games are for.”

The Tigers suit back up on Friday, Oct. 4, when they travel to Manor to take on the New Tech Titans. The will play Lago Vista at home on Oct. 11, before going to Troy, Oct. 18, to take on a Trojan-team that beat the Tigers last season and has many of the same faces.

RHS plays Cameron, last year’s district champs and Battle of the Bell winners Oct. 25 at home.

Like Rockdale, the Yoemen are undefeated with wins over Mexia, Gatesville and Giddings. The Yoemen are ranked third in Class 3A, Div. I behind state finalists Grandview and Malakoff in Texas Football Magazine. The Tigers are ranked eighth.