Rockmart looks to continue improvement in 2017
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets were riding high in late 2016, when they got into the playoffs after a big season of getting second place in the region and only losing two games heading into the round of 16, when they traveled to South Georgia to play at Fitzgerald.
Their season ended on the night of Nov. 18 with a 48-21 loss to the Purple Hurricanes i n South Georgia, and they came home with the feeling of loss after a positive season.
Despite their failure to make the full run and win a state championship in 2016, the Yellow Jackets are picking themselves up, dusting off the past and pushing forward in another try for the most elusive goal: a perfect record and beating out the rest of the state for the Class AA title.
That isn't to say the road won't be tough for the Jackets. They face their arch rivals to start off the season, a tough Alabama team and then have a packed schedule of f acing off against Woodland and a region full of Eagles ready to strike, Indians and War- riors leading the charge and the ever hard-to-beat Dragons i n Lindale, among others who hope to knock Rockmart off their pedestal.
A new crew for the Rockmart Yellow Jackets has been hard at work during the off season getting ready to show off what talent they have to offer this year.
Right now though, head coach Biff Parson said that the "roster is not final.”
Parson mentioned 5 players on the team fans may want to keep an eye on this season.
Markus Smith at defensive back and in the backfield of offense, Donte Williams, who plays on both sides of the ball as a defensive lineman and a running back, junior quarterback Dylan Bailey, Dlante Mcclain, who is taking up his role as a linebacker and running back again, and ZJ Whatley, playing again at both defensive back and running back.
These standouts are among a roster this year which includes a team full of rising underclassmen who have built experience in 2016, Parson said.
Rockmart's conditioning program got underway back in July, and the team got to show off their talents during an opening scrimmage before press time for the Pigskin Preview.
Their home defense in a 40- 7 victory over the Bowdon Red Devils - in a game that didn't count on the regular season schedule - s h o wed that Rockmart does have some room for improvement, Parson said.
“The scoreboard doesn't really dictate our effort in the first half: it was really poor, and that falls on me as a head coach,” said Parson after his team played on Aug. 4.
They were set to take the field against Darlington after press time for this edition, and Parson expected the team to have improved during a week of practice or face a possible loss before the season got underway.
Parson did give a positive appraisal of some Rockmart's talent to hit the field this year. He pointed to the efforts of Javin Whately to spur big plays and get the Jackets back into the game in the season half, and Russell Head was also a big contributor on both sides of the ball.
Overall though, he was not happy with his teams performance.
“I don't feel like we started the season off like we should have we have a lot of bugs that we need to work out involving some technique stuff,” said Head. “But if we fix that I feel like we will be doing alright.”
This year's starting quarterback Dylan Bailey said he had mixed emotions on the victory.
“We looked good, but we have a lot to work on in practice.” said Bailey. “Now we just have to focus on the next game at Darlington, do it right, then make it big at the Cedartown game.”
Despite t he minor flukes on the field this game has showed a promising season to come for the Jackets.
And this season the Jackets aren't taking it easy. When asked if there was a specific team Parson hoped to beat he replied that “every game on the schedule is important. We are not able to take a game lightly."
"Everyone will play hard and have a chance to beat us if we do not come to win," he said.
Several months of training and playing their hardest will hopefully lead the team to their goal of winning, Parson said.
That will be determined when they hit the gridiron for the first time this Friday when they travel just down the road across the county to face their arch rival Cedartown Bulldogs.
Last year, Cedartown got the best of the Jackets in a 35-7 home loss, but it was only one of two regular season losses they hope to revenge this year. The Jackets also loss to Pepperell later in the season in Region 7- AA play in a 31-10 game.
Rockmart will also get a chance to show off their talents in two other nonconference games this season, taking on Piedmont next Friday, Aug. 25 in the Battle of the Borders, and then will travel to Woodland in Cartersville for a Sept. 1 showdown before getting a week off on Sept. 8.
Rockmart will get into region play beginning on Sept. 15 with their matchup against Armuchee on the road as well.
From there, Rockmart will this year get to host Dade County on Sept. 22, head to Chattooga on Sept. 29, have a break before Pepperell comes to call on Oct. 13, host Coosa on Oct. 20 and finish out the season at Gordon Central on Oct. 27, and end at home facing Model on Nov. 3.
Standard Journal Correspondent Tyler Williams and Editor Kevin Myrick contributed to this report.