Rockwood Stuns Grace, 22-15

Oct. 30, 2014 @ Rockwood

Game Recap Credit: Goose Lindsay

There's something about the Grace Christian Rams that brings out the best in the Rockwood Tigers. That was the case Thursday night as John Webb's squad knocked off the District 3-A champions at Civitan Field, 22-15.

Thursday's loss snapped Grace Christian's 23-game winning streak in district play. The streak dated back to Oct. 1, 2010 when it was the Tigers that again defeated the Rams at Civitan Field, 23-21.

"This is a big win for the kids and our program," Tiger head coach John Webb said following the game. "We came out and executed pretty well tonight against a good football team."

"It feels great," Tiger star running back Drake Long added. "We hadn't beat them in a while and it feels good to give them their first district loss."

Friday's game was like a roller coaster ride as each team had its ups and downs. Rockwood struck first Thursday, scoring on its second possession of the game. Starting from their own 43, the Tigers marched 57 yards in 13 plays to take the lead on a 1-yard run from Jason Gaus with 10:47 left in the second quarter. Gaus carried seven times in the drive for 25 yards. Trey Treadway added the PAT to make the score 7-0.

On the first play after the kickoff, Rockwood's Nathan Briley recovered a fumble at the Rams 46. The Tigers seemed ready to cash in on the turnover, but Rockwood fumbled the ball away at the Rams 4-yard line following a 10-play drive.

The Rams answered with their best drive of the night as they covered 96 yards in 13 plays, scoring on a 1-yard run to make the score 7-6 with 1:30 left in the first half. Briley blocked the PAT, leaving the Tigers on top at halftime.

The third quarter was basically a disaster for Rockwood. The quarter started with a three-and-out on offense then a short punt led to a 24-yard Grace Christian field goal that gave the Rams a 9-7 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

Rockwood fumbled on its first play after the kickoff and Grace Christian made them pay two plays later with a 33-yard halfback pass for a touchdown. The Rams went for two and failed, leaving the score 15-7 with 4:26 left in the third quarter.

Rockwood fumbled again on its next drive, but this time the Rams did not capitalize as Rockwood's defense came up with a three-and-out. The fumble, however, did help flip field position as the Tigers started their next drive at the 10-yard line.

It was at this point that Rockwood unleashed junior Isaiah Jones on the Rams' defense. Jones transferred to Rockwood two weeks ago and prior to this drive, he had carried the ball just twice on the night for 12 yards.

Jones, however, opened the drive with a 12-yard run. Two plays later, he ripped off a 29-yard gain that was followed by a pair of Ram 15-yard penalties that moved the ball to the Grace Christian 15-yard line. Jones then ran for 12 yards before QB Will Warner scored on a 3-yard keeper with 11:24 left to play. Long added the two-point conversion to tie the score at 15-15.

"We got a gift with him a couple of weeks ago," Webb said of Jones moving to Rockwood. "It's obvious that everybody keys on Drake and Jason. He gives us a different dimension."

"He helps a lot," Long added. "I think a lot of teams focus on me and Jason, but now we have a triple threat back there."

After pulling even, it was up to Rockwood's defense to make a play and they did by stopping the Rams on fourth-and-two at the Tigers 25.

The Tigers then put together the game winning drive.

Gaus got things going with a 23-yard run, Jones added a 16-yard run and later a 14-yard reception after a penalty threatened to kill the drive. The big play, however, came on fourth-and-one as Long broke free and scored from 27 yards out to make the score 22-15 with 2:30 left to play.

"We were just trying to get a first down," Webb said. "Drake did a good job of ramming it in there then he cut back and found daylight."

"I just followed my lead blockers and found a cut back lane to the end zone," Long added.

Rockwood's defense finished off the Rams as Dallas Strader recorded back-to-back sacks before Nathan Briley recorded a sack on fourth down.

With the victory, Rockwood improves to 7-3 overall and will play next Friday in the opening round of the TSSAA Class 2A playoffs. It appears the Tigers will be playing in Chattanooga against Boyd-Buchanan.

The Chattanooga trip has been a rough one recently for the Tigers. In 2009, 2011 and 2012, the Tigers lost playoff games at Boyd-Buchanan before dropping a playoff game at Silverdale Academy last year.

"It's not been a good trip for us that's for sure," Webb said. "But we're not going to worry about what happened there before. We'll go down and try to play good football and come away with a win."

"We really confident right now," Long added. "We've got it rolling pretty good and we've just got to keep it going."

Scoring

Team Statistics

Individual Statistics

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

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