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Written by Greg Bird
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Friday, 23 October 2009 |
It was a cold and miserable Friday night for the McCreary Central Raiders.
It was a cold and miserable Friday night for the McCreary Central Raiders.
A night, already uncomfortable thanks to rain and near freezing temperatures, was made even worse by a 42-14 drubbing at the hands of the Rockcastle County Rockets.
Injuries and illness took their toll on the Raiders’ defensive line, and the lack of depth was evident as the Rockets’ offense torched McCreary for 528 yards, the most they have allowed all season.
Starting tackles Vince Staten and Patrick Parriman were watching the game on crutches and two other defensive regulars, Dustin Stephens and Dakota Chitwood who were also out of action, the Raider defense struggled all night to make plays at the line, allowing the Rockets to break off some big plays and control the game from their opening possession.
While the defense struggled, the Raiders’ offense didn’t fare much better, mainly due to the Rockets keeping to their game plan on shutting down Zach Roark.
The Rockets took advantage of a weakened McCreary offensive line to fluster Roark every time he touched the ball. The senior, who came into the game averaging over 140 yards per contest, was limited to just 6 yards on 11 carries.
Most of the Raider offense came from Aaron Watts who was able to elude several tackles and gain 104 yards rushing on the night.
Raider Coach Clinton Gay compleminted Rockcastle on their execution Friday night.
“They were ready for Zach,” he said. “He couldn’t find an opening all night.”
“They are a better team than I thought,” he added. “They are a good football team.”
Gay said he was disappointed with the way the game slipped away after a promising start where the Raiders scored on their first two possessions, but were kept out of the endzone the rest of the game.
“I wasn’t very happy with anything after the first quarter,” he said. “When you come out and score on the first series, you have to be able to at least slow the other team down. We didn’t do that.”
Gay said a lack of experience on the reserve players took its toll.
“I had to start three freshmen on the line,” he said. “I don’t like that, but I had no choice.”
The Raiders’ challenge doesn’t get any easier this week when they host Bell County Friday night.
Bell County (7-1), are the defending Class 4A champs and have torn through opponents since their opening week loss to Alcoa, Tennessee.
The Bobcats have averaged 48 points per game since the loss, while limiting opponents to just over 9 points per game. Bell County is 3-0 against McCreary since the Raiders joined the District, with an average score of 68-0.
“We just need to go out and play,” Gay said of the upcoming game. “We are going to start working on the defense we are going to use in the playoffs. We have to use this game to get ready for the playoffs.”
Things started well for the Raiders as they scored on their opening drive.
The Raiders started on their own 37 and opened the drive in the air, but Aaron Watts’ pass to Tyson Williams fell incomplete.
Roark took the next hand-off, but was dropped 2 yards behind the line. McCreary caught a break as the Rockets were flagged for a 15-yard facemask penalty on the play. Watts followed with a 20-yard run, moving the Raiders to the Rockets’ 29. After two incomplete passes and a small run, the Raiders were facing fourth-and-8 from the 27.
Watts broke out of the pocket on a roll-out and scrambled to the end-zone for the score. Roark punched in the 2-point conversion to put McCreary ahead 8-0.
The holes in the Raider defense showed quickly on the rockets’ first possession. Runningback Clark Rowe burst through the line on the first play of the series and blasted down the sideline for a 62-yard TD run. Rowe added a 2-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8.
The Raiders caught another break on their next series.
Facing third-and-6, McCreary attempted to set up a screen pass, but Watts’ toss was intercepted at the 45. Fortunately for the Raiders a Rockcastle roughing the passer penalty negated the play and gave McCreary a fresh set of downs. A 10-yard Roark gain and a 24-yard run from Watts moved the ball to the Rockets’ 15. One play later, Watts ran the ball into the endzone for his second touchdown of the game. McCreary failed to convert the extra point and held a 14-8 lead.
The Rockets tied the score again on their next drive, covering 75 yards in 4 plays, with Rowe running in a 6-yard TD run. The Rockets failed the extra point try and the score was deadlocked at 14-14.
The Raiders were forced to punt on their next series, setting up another long scoring drive for Rockcastle.
The Rockets covered 77-yards in 11 plays to take a 21-14 lead.
Watts gave the Raiders a glimmer of hope on the kickoff, returning the ball 62 yards to the Rockets’ 15. But McCreary failed to capitalize on the great field position. The Raiders were facing fourth-and- 5 from the 10, when Watts was sacked in the backfield for a 5-yard loss and turning the ball over on downs.
Following the turnover, the Rockets covered 85 yards on 7-plays for their fourth score of the night: a 3-yard QB keeper from Dustin Bishop.
Near the end of the half, Rockcastle took a 35-14 lead on a 55-yard touchdown pass to Jamie Todd.
The Rockets amassed 323 yards in the first half, all but 87 of them coming on the ground. Conversely, McCreary was limited to just 94 yards, most of them coming in the Raiders’ first two drives.
The Rockets added their final score of the night on the opening drive of the second half, a 10 play, 53 yard drive ending with a 7-yard TD run from John Saylor.
McCreary continued to struggle offensively, ending their first drive with a fumble and failing to convert a fake punt attempt.
As time wound down, both squads began to substitute junior varsity players to the lineup, with neither team putting together much offense.
When the final whistle sounded, the Rockets claimed a 42-14 win and improved their record to 4-4. McCreary dropped to 6-2 with the loss.
Watts led the Raiders with 104 rushing yards on 16 carries, two touchdowns and a total of 62 return yards. Roark finished with just 6 yards on 11 carries, Dustin Goins gained 3 yards on 11 carries, Noah Duncan rushed 4 times for 31 yards, Arlis Dople gained 5 yards on 1 carry and Preston Shoopman carried the ball twice for a net loss of 2 yards.
Watts compleyed 3 of 13 pass attempts for 39 yards. Roark, 2 yards, Goins, 2 yards, and Jason Perry, 35 yards, caught on pas each.
The Raiders face their toughest test of the season Friday night when they play their final District game of the season, hosting the Bell County Bobcats.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Norm Parsons Field.
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