The Rockets are on a roll, and it didn’t stop with Springfield High. The Rockets defeated the Senators 55-10 last Friday. Tristan Stantion, Nate Swaney, and Reece Gade all had great receiving games. Stanton has 2 receptions for 41 yards. Swaney had 4 receptions for 43 yards. Swaney also had 2 rushes for 47 yards. Gade recorded the only receiving touchdown of the game and had 3 receptions for 41 yards. Leading the way, passing was both JP Leonard and Tanner Beal. Leonard, who went 7 for 8 on passes for 101 yards. Beal went 7 for 9 on passes for 93 yards and had 2 total touchdowns. The running game was no different; pure dominance. The Rockets had 300 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns. David Kates and Jorey Myren led the way, rushing—Kates with 93 yards and a touchdown. Kates also averaged 10.2 yards per carry. Myren was a goal-line beast with 2 touchdowns and 49 rushing yards. Myren also had an impressive rushing average, with 7 yards per carry.
The Rocket defense was even more commanding and dominant than the offense was. Parker Seifert, Tanner Beal, and Macklin Nelson led the team in tackles on Friday. Seifert recorded 7 total tackles. Beal recorded 8 total tackles. Nelson recorded 6 total tackles. The defensive line had a good game with a lot of pressures and 2 sacks. Only one sack from a defensive lineman by Xander Bridge. There was another sack by linebacker Isaac Hardas. There were no interceptions from the Rocket defense. The defense forced 2 fumbles and got both of them. Macklin Nelson and Evrim Tabag both caused and recovered the fumbles. NASCAR! Coach Warren was definitely happy with the performance from the Rocket Punt Block Team. Khornell Gregory blocked and recovered a punt in the 2nd quarter. This set up the Rockets with great field position to score a touchdown before going into halftime.
All of these stats came from MaxPreps
Now, even with how dominant the game was for the Rockets, they still had to learn a lot from this game going into SHG week. “Our biggest successes against SHS were that we stopped the run on defense and went fast on offense so that they couldn’t get prepared for what we were doing,” said quarterback Tanner Beal on what he thought the Rockets did well against SHS.
Quarterback JP Leonard was asked the same question regarding the successes against SHS. “Our biggest success against Springfield would have to be that we played all three parts of the game very well. Our defense had an outstanding performance against a good offense. Our offense scored when we needed to and made some big plays. And our special teams got us some key plays,” said Leonard. Playing at a high level on all three phases of the game is crucial in football. Anyone who pays attention to football knows that when one phase performs poorly, it hurts the whole team.
Running back David Kates had a similar answer to Beal concerning the biggest success of the game. “I’d say our speed on offense was the best aspect of the game. They really couldn’t keep up,” said Kates. The speed of a no-huddle offense can determine a good offensive game and a bad offensive game. If everyone is on the same page and things are moving fast, then the opponent has no chance in stopping the offense.
When Beal was asked about things the Rockets learned from the game, he said, “We learned that when we play as a team and communicate, we can be really good and that not turning the ball over on offense is really important.” The Rocket offense only had one turnover against SHS, which was crucial to making the speed of the offense even better.
When asked the same question, Leonard said, “I think that we learned that we can beat anyone, we just have to play as a team, and when we play at our best, nobody can stop.” Some tough words from Leonard. The community knows that this Rockets team can beat anyone.
“We need to know what we’re doing. We have too many mental mistakes, and it could really cost us against a better team,” said Kates when asked the same question. This is very true. Mental mistakes are the quickest way to end up losing against a great team instead of a good team, but the community believes that the Rockets will come prepared this Friday against SHG.
“This is a big tone setter going into the playoffs, so we need all the support we can get. Also, it’s SHG, we are going to dominate,” said Kates on what he wants the fans to know going into the gme this Friday. Everybody show up and show out if you can this Friday at 7:00 at SHG for the game. This game could decide the tone going into the playoffs, so let’s go cheer the Rockets on as they face off against the Cyclones!
