Rome picks right back up with 35-0 victory
The Rome High football team was off last week, but there were not many signs of rust as the team returned to Barron Stadium on last week for a matchup against North Clayton.
Jamious Griffin was nearly unstoppable as the Wolves rolled to a 35-0 shutout of the visiting Eagles. The senior running back racked up 184 yards and three touchdowns on just eight carries as the Wolves got a boost heading into Region 7-5A play.
Rome High head coach John Reid would’ve liked to have seen what Griffin could do with more time on the field, but with tough region teams like Kell and Carrollton coming up, Reid said they need Griffin to stay healthy.
“I know that he would like to have one of those nights where he has a ton of yards, but we’ve got big games ahead of us and so we’ve got to have him,” Reid said. “He’s a feature back, and we also have to get those backups ready, but yeah, he ripped off some big ones.”
Griffin, who averaged 23 yards per carry, scored on runs of 4, 13 and 2 yards. His longest run of the night was a 58-yarder that put the Wolves on the Eagles’ 2. Griffin punched it on the next play.
Rome (2-0) was nearly perfect in the first half, with its lone mishap a lost fumble in the first quarter, and Reid was able to pull his starters at halftime with the lead, 35-0.
After the Wolves’ seasonopening 51-41 win against Marietta was riddled with penalties, Reid was glad to see his team improve before next Friday’s road matchup against Kell.
“We’ll continue to watch film and we’ll fix some of the things,” Reid said. “It’s a process. You’re hoping that in the third week when you match up with a region team that your mistakes are less than their mistakes. Football is a game of mistakes, so we’ll do as much as we can and keep pushing the kids, and I think it’s a little easier to push them when you’ve been successful on a Friday night.”
Traceton Lawrence helped carry the load for the Wolves on the ground, scoring the Wolves’ other two touchdowns on runs of 5 and 7 yards. He finished with 91 yards on nine carries.
The Wolves kept the ball on the ground for most of the game with quarterback Knox Kadum only throwing two passes, completing one to Griffin for a 12-yard gain.
Defensively Rome held the Eagles (0-3) to 137 yards of offense, as North Clayton quarterback Courtney Gilbert went 15-for-29 for 162 yards. Onuma Dieke hauled in six of those passes for 78 yards.
“We shut it down pretty early,” Reid said.
Montrell Millsap and Connor Bullard led the Rome defense with four tackles each, and Bullard also had a sack.