Rossville foils late conversion attempt to beat Heritage
The Rossville Bulldogs stopped the Heritage Generals on a late fourth-quarter conversion and picked up a 14-12 victory in their season opener in Boynton this past Thursday.
Heritage (0-1) opened the scoring late in the opening period. Quarterback Caden Swope found Jacob Lozano on a long pass to set up a 2-yard bootleg by Swope for the score. The conversion attempt failed, but the Generals had a 6-0 lead with 11.3 seconds left in the quarter.
Later in the second quarter, after a short punt gave Heritage great field position inside the Rossville 30, Bulldog defender Dewayne Thomas jarred the ball loose on a hit and Chris Maddeaux scooped up the loose pigskin and scampered 82 yards for the score. Gordon Casteel ran in the 2-point attempt and Rossville would take an 8-6 lead into halftime.
After both defenses held to start the second half, Rossville (1-0) put the ball in the hands of Casteel and the bruising running back picked up several big gains to move the ball downfield. Blake Ferguson took it the final six yards, but a missed conversion kept the Generals within a score of tying the game.
Another exchange of punts followed, but late in the fourth, Heritage would finally get back on the board. However, the Bulldogs bowed their necks to stuff the Generals on the conversion and they would recover an onside kick attempt before running out the clock.
“Coming in we knew we had to take care of their inside running game,” Rossville head coach Steve Lewis. “Coach (Dan) Draeger did a great job getting our D-line ready and it showed tonight. Aiden Conley, along with Bishop Hayden, Dylan Curtis and