Rockdale’s 2019 season started off with a bang when junior Kesean Raven reversed the ball to classmate Cam’Ron Valdez for an 80-yard touchdown on Friday night’s opening kickoff at Tiger Stadium.
“We just wanted to add a little wrinkle to our return,” said Jeff Miller, Rockdale High School head football coach and athletic director. “It was actually Coach (John) Hooser who came up with that and it worked out pretty well for us.
“We knew we wanted to get off to a fast start after last year when we played them.”
The Tigers took down Giddings, Texas Football Magazine’s 15th ranked team in Class 4A, Division II, 48-24 in a game where they amassed a total of 570 offensive yards, one less than their 2018 season high of 571 against Little River-Academy.
After Valdez’s opening score and a made extra-point by Ross Loth, both teams put on a scoring expedition in the first half with a combined 65 points after 24 minutes of play.
On the next drive, Buffalo quarterback Alex Delatorre took his team down the field on a 10-play, 68-yard possession that ended with him scoring on a one-yard run into the end zone. Rock-dale kept the lead 7-6 when kicker Jesus Orocio missed the extra point.
RHS got the ball back and didn’t waste any time putting another seven points on the scoreboard. Starting on the Giddings 30-yard
line, quarterback Jace Robinson found Raven open in the middle of the field before making it down field for a 70-yard touchdown. Loth made the extra point.
Like the Tigers, the Buffaloes also added points immediately. Delatorre got the ball to wide receiver Gage Jaehne for a 75-yard touchdown less than 20 seconds later. Orocio missed his second and final extra point attempt of the night. Rockdale led 14-12 with 6:01 left in the first quarter.
Both teams were forced to punt on each of their next drives but it wasn’t long before the blue-and-gold scored one more in the opening quarter. A Robinson scramble in the backfield turned into a 90-yard touchdown run by sophomore Kobe Mitchell. The extra point was unsuccessful but Rockdale ended the first quarter up 20-12.
Much of the second was a scoring drought until Raven scored his second touchdown of the night on a 21-yard run with a little more than four minutes left in the half. The extra point failed.
Twenty-two seconds later, Delatorre got the Buffaloes to the end zone for the third time of the night with an eight-yard run with 3:51 left in the half. The extra point was blocked by the Tiger defense.
The scoreboard operators were busy a minute later, Robinson scored his first touchdown of the season when he made a push down the field that led to him scoring on a one-yard run. Loth made the kick to give his team a 34-18.
With almost two minutes left in the half, both teams scored once more.
Delatorre scored his first rushing touchdown of the season with a 57-yard run. The conversion failed and the Tigers got the ball back up 34-24.
In less than 20 seconds, Raven found his way to the endzone for the second time in less than three minutes catching a 63-yard pass from Robinson. Loth made the extra point to give RHS a 41-24 lead going into half time.
Rockdale and Giddings scored a combined 65 points in the first half.
“We got pretty sloppy in the first half,” Miller said. “But we knew that if we could get our skill guys open that they could do some dangerous stuff.”
The second half was the complete opposite with only one touchdown scored in the half when Ross Loth caught a long-ball down the field from Robinson for an 85-yard touchdown.
“In the second half, it was obviously a different game,” Miller said. “But I like to see that we can do both things.
“Play the wide open game or play ball control if we need to.”
RHS won the game 48-24 and were led by Robinson, who passed for 441 yards, three yards shy of the record of 444 set by former RHS quarterback and now Robinson quarterback coach at RHS Ethan Brinkley against Salado on Sept. 1, 2011.
RHS also had three receivers with more than 100 yards on Friday night. Loth led the group with three catches for 132 yards and one touchdown. Raven had four carries for 121 yards and a score. Mitchell had three catches for 111 yards with one touchdown. Valdez led the Tigers in the backfield with eight carries for 63 yards and Raven had six carries for 55 yards.
CALDWELL—On Friday night at Tiger Stadium, RHS takes on Burleson County neighbor Caldwell.
The Hornets are picked fifth in District 12-4A, Division II by Texas Football Magazine, the same district Giddings is picked to win.
They lost their home opener this past Friday to Edna 29-16 in a game where the Cowboys got ahead early and held on against an inexperienced CHS team with only four starters returning on each side. RHS got their first of the 2018 season in a 35-17 win on the road.
The Hornets are led by senior Logan Knesek who plays running back, wide receiver and safety on defense. The Hornets also moved wide receiver Kyle Cunningham to quarterback this season.
“They’re getting better and I know they’re going to give us all we need,” Miller said. “We just have to learn some stuff defensively a little bit better as far as stopping the run and on offense, our lineman played extremely hard on Friday but they just need to learn how to move their feet on pass protection but that’s something that will be an easy fi x.
“Most of our mistakes were made by guys that played their first varsity game. We hope that maybe those were just jitters from the first game that will be out of the way.”
Kickoff is at 7:30p.m.
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