Game stats on page 3B.
The Blue and Gold played against the visiting Troy Trojans on Friday night and came out with their first district victory of the season. The final score was Rockdale 29, Troy 21.
I heard someone say this was the tale of two halves. Even when these Tigers are down they are never out. They tend to peak at the right time and they did exactly that Friday night in front of the home crowd on homecoming night.
The Tigers put the first points on the scoreboard with senior kicker Daniel Romero’s field goal from 23 yards out. The Tigers looked good as they took the lead 3-0.
The second quarter had momentum leaning hard towards the Trojans. They scored three times passing and running into the end zones, they made all their extra point kicks and the score at halftime was Troy 21, Rockdale 3.
I’m not sure what was said in the locker room at halftime but the Tigers responded by coming out fired up. They scored their first touchdown of the second half on a six-yard sprint by senior quarterback Blaydn Barcak. Kicker Romero missed the extra point making the score Troy 21, Rockdale 9.
The Tigers scored again in the third quarter this time in the air. Scrambling quarterback Barcak hit senior special teams stand out and wide receiver Gerren Marrero-Carter for a 68-yard touchdown strike. Romero made his kick and the Tigers were back in the game, down by only five— 21-16.
The Tiger defense that has been good all year long kept the Trojans from scoring in the second half and it was all Tiger offense in the fourth quarter.
Tiger quarterback Barcak ran the ball from 48 yards out scoring six. The two-point conversion failed but the Tigers took the lead 22-21.
Then later in the fourth, the hard-fighting, always eager to get extra yards, third-year starting quarterback Barcak, who now holds the new Tiger record for passing yards, continued on a roll by pushing his way into the end zone from seven yards out. Touchdown Tigers. Kicker Romero made the extra point to create a final score of Rockdale Tigers 29, Troy Trojans 21.
What c an you say about an 18-point comeback but congratulations to these Tiger players and hard-working coaches who set the pace for these young men.
TOP PL AY ERS— Stand-out players for this game were offensive playmaker senior Gerren Marrero- Carter who had 103 yards rushing, senior quarterback Blaydn Barcak had three rushing touchdowns, one passing, and ended with 117 individual rushing yards and 193 passing yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, junior Eric Sheppard had eight tackles for the night along with one tackle that was for a loss; junior Sawyer Chalk, who had four tackles (two for losses); senior Riley Spears with one sack, two tackles that were for losses; junior AJ Sandoval, who had a sack; and senior Chad David, who had one tackle for a loss.
COMING UP— The Tigers are 2-4 for the season and 1-1 in district. They travel to Lorena this week to face the Leopards at their home stadium. Lorena is 5-2 overall and an intimidating 3-0 in district. Kick off is at 7:30 p.m.
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