Jackets sting Armuchee in 56-21 road trip win
Rockmart will host its home opener Friday against Dade for Homecoming 2017.
The Rockmart Yellow Jackets are off to a solid start in Region 7- AA football, having left the Tribe in Armuchee feeling positively stung by a 56-21 victory over the Indians. Rockmart (22. 1-0 7-AA) took a little time in getting their game plan fully up and running last week, but once the offense got rolling late in the first quarter it didn’t stop much for the rest of the game.
“Honestly we just went out there and ran plays,” said head coach Biff Parson. “Obviously at the beginning of the game it took us a little bit. The defense played well, got some turnovers early for us. And it took us a few drives to get one in. But once we got that in it was like we were getting some rust off and things were executing a little better and started making plays.”
Armuchee was able to handle the speed of the Jackets up front initially through the first two series of the game, but their own mistakes cost them the chance to take advantage of turnovers on downs situations with a fumble on their first handoff of the game, and then a tipped pass was caught by Rockmart’s Jabari Burge to get the Jackets within their first scoring range of the night following the personal foul called.
Quarterback Dylan Bailey ran the first score of the night in for the Jackets, and kept the offense rolling through the first half and into a running clock in the second. He added two more scores in air to his record, which saw him go 5 for 8 and 153 yards in passing, and have four carriers for 23 yards and a score as well.
He wasn’t the only one with big numbers.
Rockmart’s Markus Smith, ZJ Whatley and Javin Whatley all ended the night with 100- plus yard games, and Smith scored twice along with a pair of touchdowns for Javin Whatley as ell.
But the biggest night of all was for Rockmart’s defense, who despite having problems stopping Armuchee’s Brayden Perry leading his offense to a total of 342 yards on the night — with 243 yards in passing alone — they forced four turnovers and picked up three sacks on the night.
Perry ended his night with two interceptions, two touchdown passes and went 11-19 in his total passing figures.
Despite t hat, Rockmart put up 554 total yards of offense of their own through a variety of threats on the field, and left Armuchee in the dust.
“We couldn’t overcome their speed,” Abdellatif said. “They beat us with their speed up front. They were a good football team and they took it to us. Running clock or not, we’ve got to play better.”
Rockmart is back in action on Friday night for their first game of the season — and Homecoming 2017 — with the Dade County Wolverines coming in to play.
Parson said his team will be ready to play Dade County ( 2- 2, 1- 0 7-AA) now that they have knocked off the rust from their region opener.
The Wolverines are coming into their road trip to Rockmart with a 28-21 overtime victory at home over Model.
“Our goal is to be 2-0 in the region,” Parson said of the upcoming game. He said the team would be getting their plan ready and look at film throughout this week as the team also celebrates Homecoming festivities.
Their first game of the season at home comes following four games in a row on the road - two at Cedartown High School to open the season with a loss to the Bulldogs, followed by Rockmart’s opener for the Battle of the Borders knocking off Piedmont’s 25-game win streak with a big win for Georgia in the second annual fundraising jamboree.
Rockmart ran into trouble against the Woodland Wildcats in the third week of the season,, and finally got a break before their win at Armuchee this past weekend.
Parson said the two week break for the Jackets allowed for his team and coaching staff to do some soul searching and really figure out what is making this team tick for the 2017 season.
“We had a lot of good talks, and the kids fought hard and practiced well,” he said. “This is a good way to start of Region 7-AA, with a victory.”