Parson: patience from Jacket faithful
Homecoming is early this year at Rockmart High School following a week off for the Yellow Jackets, and head football coach Biff Parson said this was an opportunity for his squad to get back on track.
The 2-1 Jackets, coming off a win against the Woodland Wildcats on Sept. 2, are already outperforming based on last year’s record by this point.
Under former head coach Bin Turner, the Jackets were 1-3, having won at North Murray to open the season but then fell agains Sonoraville and Coosa before heading into the game against Bremen, which on Sept. 18 the Jackets lost 17-14.
Parson, who is in command of the Jackets these days, said his main focus for now is getting Rockmart back into a winning mindset.
And the first item on that list is picking up a win over the Armuchee Indians this Friday at the Rock.
“The most important game is our first region game, and Armuchee is going to be a tough football team,” said Parson. “We’re excited to get to play in Region 7-AA and have a chance for a region championship.”
Rockmart looks to strike against the Indians with their dual quarterback system under Markus Smith and Dylan Bailey, while also keeping the running game going with Morgan Sims and D’Lante McClain, while uti- lizing their senior defense to shut down the Indians offense.
Armuchee comes into the game at 1-2 to open their region play on the road, having lost their first game against LaFayette at home 22-6, then picked up a road win against Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 13-7.
Last week, the Indians were drummed at home with a 56-7 loss to Temple.
Parson said his team has done well in the first three quarters against opponents so far this season, but they’ll have to finish out the game to win over the Indians. That, he said, has been a process. “That’s a piece of the process that we’re still trying to get with this group, that with four quarter you’ve got to play,” he said. “Our kids have come out really good in the first and second quarters in all of our games, and can maintain that at halftime, but keeping that into the fourth quarter is a process we’re still trying to get this team to get.”
However, Parson said he doesn’t want fans to get too excited yet. The Jackets still have plenty of work to do despite having a good start to the season so far.
“The community and all the support we’re getting is great, but they’ve got to understand that our seniors are coming off a 3-7, 2-8 and 2-8 year,” Parson said. “It’s a process off getting those guys to buy into the winning attitude. That process is going to take time, and we understand that the process is more important than the product.”
Ultimately, his goal is about winning Region 7-AA, he said.
“But we’ve got to play 7 more games,” Parson said. “No one is going to give it to us, but that is our goal. And we feel like we can compete with anybody, but we’ve got to play for four quarters.”
Following the Armuchee game, Rockmart has a trip to Dade County and hosts Chattooga before another week off on Oct. 7 heading into the end of region play with games at Pepperell and Coosa, and then home again for Gordon Central for the final three weeks of October, before the final game of the season at Model.
Fans of the 2-1 Jackets do have reason to celebrate. Despite losing to rival Cedartown in the second week, the offense has shown that it can do much for Jackets in their opener against Cherokee County which ended with a 54-28 win, and a Woodland win in Week 3 that came out 37-12.
Friday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m., with Homecoming at halftime.