Rockmart keeps up the pace in road win
The climb to the top continues for the Rockmart Yellow Jackets as they continued undefeated through a road trip to Coosa and blanked the Eagles 42-0 after a two week break.
Head coach Biff Parson said he was worried the team was a bit rusty after getting time off of the field, and wouldn’t get going as fast as he would like. So he was happy with a trio of back-toback touchdowns created by both his offense and defense in the first quarter.
“We came out and really took it to them,” Parson said. “We had three interceptions in the first half. It felt like we left two scores out though. We didn’t finish the half like we wanted to, the challenge was to come out and finish the game. And we did that.”
Rockmart didn’t give Coosa any breathing room in the first quarter, jumping out to a fast 21-0 lead as the Jackets scored on their opening drive that ended in a 15-yard passing play between Quarterback Dylan Bailey and Tyler Abram.
Dixon tried for a first play big pass down the field that turned into an interception ran back for a touchdown by Juke Boozer. Not long after on their next possession, Dixon threw a second deep interception to give the Yellow Jackets possession on their own six, which Zabrion Whatley used as an opportunity to show his running skills.
He ran for a 94-yard touchdown to give the Jackets plenty of breathing room, which continued through the rest of the game.
Coosa only got close to putting points on the board when on a fourth down deep in Rockmart territory they tried for a 40-yard field goal attempt by Nohel Paz, but he was short by a few yards.
Not long before the end of the half, Dixon was knocked out of the game by Rockmart’s Ant Lester. Coosa’s starting quarterback finished the night going 3 of 11 for 31 yards and three interceptions.
Rockmart is cruising right where they want to
be. Against the Eagles, Rockmart’s Dylan Bailey on the other hand threw for 4 of 6 on the night for a touchdown and 83 yards of offense. He along with a cast of others put up 367 yards of offense on the night.
The Jackets continued to dominate on the ball through the rest of the first quarter and into the second, with Markus Smith adding an 8-yard touchdown run to his growing list of scores for the season, and a third in the third quarter from 12 yards out.
Whatley got the final trip to the end zone into the fourth quarter with a running clock and ended the Jackets’ big offensive push for the night.
Parson said the team does need to work out some mistakes, and they continue to push forward in a “team effort.”
“We’ve got to continue talk about our standards, and our first goal which is a region championship, and then our second goal which is a state championship,” Parson said. “We can’t talk about a state goal until we finish these next two games. That’s important.”
Rockmart also celebrates Senior Night as they host Gordon Central this Friday, which will be followed up by Model.
Those two final opponents faced each other this past Friday night, with the Warriors taking a 36-26 win over the Blue Devils.
Expect a rankings shakeup as well in the state after Week 10 of football in Georgia. Second-ranked Callaway fell in a close 13-10 game against Heard County last Friday night on the road, giving Rockmart a chance to move up in the polling.
Top-ranked Hapeville Charter is likely to retain it’s No. 1 ranking in Georgia’s Class AA football poll after a 56-0 win last week. Third ranked Rabun County should move up after a 63-7 win, and so should Bremen who won 35-7.
With their shutout win last Friday, Rockmart remains the team to beat in the 7-AA standings, followed by Pepperell and Chattooga both at 4-1, and Gordon Central, Model and Coosa at 2-3 in region play.
Dade County sat at 1-4, and Armuchee has yet to earn a region win in last place at 0-5.