Middle School Football: Rossville, LaFayette road pitch shutouts
The Rossville Bulldogs employed their usual steady ground game and got a big afternoon from their defense to move to 3-0 after a 30-0 road win at Lakeview this past Thursday.
After forcing a punt, Rossville drove 91 yards on seven plays, highlighted by Dewayne Thomas’ 42yard scamper. Chase Watkins would score from two yards out and Thomas ran in the conversion to make it 8-0.
Both teams would spend the rest of the half turning the ball over. Rossville would get an interception from Ellijah Langston and a fumble recovery by Dylan Curtis. Late in the second quarter, Chris Maddeaux came up with the Bulldogs’ second pick of the half, returning it 54 yards for a score. Thomas closed out the half by recovering a second Warrior fumble.
Rossville’s initial drive of the third quarter ended in a fumbled snap at the Lakeview 5-yard line, but Watkins came up big for the defense, knocking the ball free and allowing Landon Tapley to recover. A short 15yard march ended on a 1-yard Gordon Casteel dive, while Thomas tacked on the conversion for a 22-0 lead.
The Bulldogs would later stuff Lakeview at the Rossville 33-yard line on fourth down and countered with a 67-yard drive. A 32-yard run by Watkins helped set up Thomas for a 12-yard scoring run. He also added the conversion.
Rossville’s defense would then hold on the Warriors’ final possession before the offense took a knee and ran out the clock.
“Our defense was outstanding especially considering the shortened week,” Rossville head coach Steve Lewis said. “Offensively we are still working at putting together a complete game.”
Watkins paced the ground attack with 70 yards, while Thomas picked up 62 yards and led the defense with 11 tackles. Curtis came up with six stops, including two for a loss, to go with his fumble recovery.
Rossville will host Trion for Homecoming this Thursday, while Lakeview (0-4) will face Chattanooga Valley in Flintstone.
LaFayette rumbles past Trion
The duo of Jaylon Ramsey and Trey Taylor combined for just 12 carries on Thursday, but the running back combo used those dozen carries to amass 398 yards on the ground as the LaFayette Ramblers blasted Trion, 46-0, for an NGAC road victory.
Ramsey had seven carries for 225 yards, scoring on runs of 65, 79 and 30 yards, while Taylor had 173 yards on just five rushing attempts, finding the endzone on touchdown runs of 61 and 10 yards.
Ross Martin also had a 3-yard TD run for LaFayette, while quarterback Cade Fisher threw for three 2-point conversions and rushed for two more.
On defense, Ethan Adams had 13 tackles for Ramblers. Jacob Moses had 11 tackles and forced a fumble. Martin had 10 tackles, while Lane White recorded eight. Evan Williams finished with five tackles, a quarterback sack and a fumble recovery. Jacob Zwiger also had a sack and Fisher came up with a pick on defense.
The Ramblers (3-0) will host Heritage this Thursday at 4:30 p.m.