Rockmart rolls through Temple in final scrimmage
Rockmart played a shutout game over Temple last week, winning the home scrimmage event with a 42-0 finish.
The Jackets were looking to make adjustments after their first scrimmage win over Bremen, all while preparing for the big cross-county rivalry and kickoff of their regular season next week at Cedartown.
The team had a total of six touchdowns for the night, led by junior quarterback Javin Whatley.
The Jackets started out with a 40-yd pass from Whatley to senior Reed Couch, which set up the first touchdown to be completed by freshman Patrick Gardner’s 4-yd run to the end zone.
They then had a 20-yd pass from Whatley to senior Juke Boozer that would have earned the Jackets a second touchdown, but the play was called back on a pulled-jersey penalty against the home team.
Rockmart recovered with another pass from Whatley to Boozer immediately after the penalty for a 36-yd touchdown, raising the score just ahead of the halftime break.
The Jackets later made several more big plays during the second half of the game, including 70yd run touchdown by Whatley, two short runs for touchdowns by freshman Lanear McCrary, and a 45-yard touchdown run by freshman Tyshawn Johnson to end the game.
Temple had several big plays of their own, including a 45yard run with originally no defense from Rockmart, falling short in making a touchdown and putting up points on the board, though.
Head Coach Biff Parson feels some areas showed improvement, while other components still need work.
He stated that he was impressed with the younger players who made the most of their opportunities to play in the game, as well as the defensive players who were focused early in the game.
He added that the team has improved on their sideline management from last week. “We were more focused on attention to detail,” he said.
“Offensively, we started off really slow,” he said. “We had a lack of focus and lack of execution and need to work on playing hard from the beginning of the game.”
In preparation for the away Cedartown game this week, Rockmart will on the practice fields focusing on the key areas that need improvement.
After the 20-14 win over the Bulldogs last year, the team, fans, and community are all excited to see the outcome of this year’s Polk County football battle.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us, but we’re up for it,” Parson said. “We just need to maintain our focus and energy on execution during the game, even with all of the excitement and festivities going on throughout the week.”
Parson added that he looks forward to seeing leadership from the seniors through practices and preparation this week, and in the big game on Friday night.