Gaining ground
Rome breaks away in the second half of a shootout with Kell.
In John Reid’s three years as head coach, Rome has established itself with a physical defense above all else. But on Friday night, it was the offense’s turn to put on a show.
The Wolves rode behind Knox Kadum’s arm, a punishing ground game and Xavier Roberts-Donaldson’s versatility to accumulate 555 total yards and beat Kell 54-33 in a Region 7-5A matchup at Barron Stadium.
It is the sixth time in the last two years Rome has scored at least 50 points, and the win avenged the Wolves’ 33-30 loss to Kell in 2016.
“Well, I guess you can’t choose how you win. You just have to win,” Reid said. “I think their guys were more physical than us to start, and that doesn’t happen often. And our offense kept us in the game until we made some adjustments at halftime.”
Kadum accumulated 253 total yards and threw two touchdowns, while running backs Jamious Griffin and Jalynn Sykes both ran for more than 100 yards. Roberts-Donaldson had 119 total yards, and recorded passing, rushing and receiving touchdowns on the night.
While reaching the halfcentury mark is nothing new for the Wolves (3-0, 1-0 7-5A), it was never so necessary. Kell led Rome 33-32 with 9:50 left in the third quarter before Rome’s defense came alive while the offense scored the final 22 points of the game.
The Longhorns’ lead in the second half didn’t last long, with Kadum hitting Roberts-Donaldson for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 8:54 in the third. Late in the quarter, RobertsDonaldson hit Marquez Kirby for a 17-yard touchdown pass on a trick play, giving Rome a 47-33 lead.
It was a career night for Roberts-Donaldson, who credited his coaches for allowing him to show off his many talents.
“We work those plays way more in practice than what we might do during the games,” Roberts-Donaldson said. “There are plenty of plays we run
that we usually don’t use during the game, but we used them tonight.”
The biggest difference in the second half came on defense, as Rome finally began to slow down Kell quarterback Evan Conley and running back Josiah Futral. Conley threw for 261 passing yards and three touchdowns while Futral had 171 total yards and one score.
But after Futral broke a 79-yard touchdown run to
begin the second half, Kell (0-3, 0-1) only accumulated three first downs the rest of the game. Rome’s defensive line began to take over down the stretch, with Adam Anderson recording two sacks.
“Their game plan was to get the ball on the perimeter and away from our front seven,” Reid said. “So we regrouped in the second half and went back to some fundamental things on defense, and it certainly helped.”
The Wolves looked flat to start, as the Longhorns scored on their first two possessions and went up 10-0 after one quarter. And while Rome’s offense came alive in the second, Conley countered with two touchdown passes to keep the game tied at 25 entering halftime.
But similar to the opening-week win against Harrison, the Wolves simply wore down their opponent in the final quarter and a half. While the Kell offense struggled, Rome looked its best down the stretch riding behind Sykes and Griffin.
“On Mondays we have to run a 400-yard shuttle, and that really helps test our endurance for games like this,” Griffin said. “In the fourth quarter, none of us were tired but we knew their defense was tired. So we just kept bringing it to them.”
Rome gets a week off before heading to Dallas for its first road game as the Wolves take on Paulding County on Sept. 22.