Tigers take down Green Waves, 28-7

Oct. 24, 2014 @ Midway

Credit Brownie Rose

The Rockwood Tigers assured themselves a berth in the TSSAA Class 2A playoffs after a 28-7 win at Midway Friday night. The Tigers are now 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the District 3-A. Rockwood will be a wild card participant in the playoffs and will know their postseason destination Saturday morning.

“It was a big win for us against a county and district opponent,” Tiger head coach John Webb said. “I’m pretty sure we’re in (playoffs), but you never really know until it’s announced.”

For Midway, it will be a wait and see scenario if they make the Class 1A playoffs. They won their first four games, but now have dropped five consecutive games to go 4-5 overall and 1-4 in the district.

Led by Drake Long’s 133 yards rushing, Rockwood pulled away in the second half after leading 14-7 at halftime. Long and Jason Gaus scored two touchdowns each to lead the Tigers to the win.

Neither team scored in the opening quarter, but Rockwood had several chances. The Tigers opening drive pushed to the Midway 16 before running out of downs.

Midway's second play ended the possession when Long intercepted a Mason Woody pass.

Rockwood pushed again to the Midway 41, but Midway's Cody Schommer ended the Tiger possession with an interception of Rockwood's Will Warner.

Neither team threatened again until the second quarter.

Rockwood scored first after forcing a 17-yard Midway punt to begin the second quarter. The Tigers drove 37 yards in nine plays for the score. Long scored from 2 yards out. He also had a 14-yard sprint to keep the drive going.

Trey Treadway added the extra for a 7-0 Rockwood lead with 7:27 left until halftime.

Midway picked up the pace considerably after the kickoff. Jonathan Beason returned the kick to the 37. Schommer and Jake Woody did the rest. Schommer ran the first two plays for 25 yards. Jake Woody did the rest with an 18 and 12-yard run before scoring from 8 yards out on the fifth play of the drive.

Jose Coronilla tacked on the point after to tie the game at seven with 6:06 left in the quarter.

Rockwood would go into halftime with a 14-7 lead when they drove 73 in 13 plays.

The Tiger drive was marred by one series of events that would see a total of six flags on the field after Long was tackled out of bounds.

Midway was hit with two personal fouls and an unsportsmanlike penalty on the play. Rockwood was tagged with a holding penalty that happened early in the play. The Tigers were then hit with a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike call.

After the dust settled, Rockwood retained possession at their own 49-yard line with a first down. The Tigers went on to score on a 5-yard pass from Warner to Gaus to make the score 14-7 with 59 seconds left in the first half.

Warner hit Jared Kilby for a 12-yard gain and Long for a 19-yard pick up earlier in the drive.

Mason Woody hit Jake Woody for a 13-yard gain and threw to Beason for 19 more yards after the score, but time ran out before the Green Wave could get within striking distance.

Rockwood took the second half kick and drove to the Midway 14 before running out of downs.

Midway drove from the 14 to the Tiger 22 thanks to a 38-yard run from Jake Woody to start the drive, but Mason Woody was picked off by Justin Domon at the Tiger 5-yard line.

An exchange of punts followed, but Rockwood got a big break when Nathan Briley blocked Midway's attempt.

The Tigers did not let this opportunity slip away. Warner hit Austin Cooper for 19 yards and Long scored two plays later to up the lead to 21-7 after Treadway's extra point.

Midway could not get much going on the game's last two possessions. Mason Woody did hit brother Jake for a 25-yard pick up and Beason for a 14-yard gain, but the last possession ended at the Rockwood 11 when Jayden Woods claimed the third Tiger interception of the night.

Rockwood scored their last touchdown on a 1-yard run from Gaus with 4:03 left in the game.

Midway ran out of downs at the 44 moments earlier.

Rockwood ended the evening with 318 yards of total offense. Long led the Tiger attack with 133 yards rushing on 25 carries. He eclipsed two big marks on the night as he now has 1,119 yards this season and 3,094 yards for his career.

“Drake’s had a great career and hopefully he gets to play several more games,” Webb said. “He comes out every day and works hard. He does exactly what you want and never says a word doing it.”

Midway had 219 yards offense. Jake Woody had 89 yards rushing while Mason Woody added 87 yards through the air.

Rockwood will host district leading Grace Christian on Thursday. “It doesn’t mean anything to either team as far as the playoffs, but they’re number one in the district and we want to see how we stack up,” Webb said.

Scoring

Team Statistics

Individual Statistics

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

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