PM Piles Up 394 Yards On The Ground To RC’s 47
Rockbridge County High School unveiled its brand new turf field last Friday night, but it turned out that the visitors got the most enjoyment out of it.
Parry McCluer scored on the first play from scrimmage and rushed for a whopping 394 yards to cruise to a 36-14 victory in the high school football opener on Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium in Lexington.
“Getting that first win is big,” said Parry McCluer head coach Jeremiah Brockenbrough. “You get that monkey off your back, and we set the tone that we are a physical football team.”
“Nobody is looking for moral victories,” said RC head coach Zack Rhodenizer. “We wanted to see [fewer] penalties, [fewer] blown assignments, and we saw those things. We had a few mental errors early, and that hurt us.”
The Blues, who won their fourth straight game over the Wildcats and evened the series at 13 wins apiece, wasted little time getting started. On the first play from scrimmage, Brody Coleman shrugged off a tackle near midfield and outsprinted the RC defense 58 yards for the opening score. Thomas Conner ran in the 2-point conversion, and PM had an 8-0 lead just 19 seconds into the contest.
That was the theme for the night. Eight different ball carriers toted the rock for the Blues, averaging nearly seven yards per attempt. PM piled up 20 first downs in the game, 19 of them on the ground. With that dominant ground game, the Blues enjoyed a huge advantage in time of possession, holding onto the ball for over 30 minutes in the contest.
“All summer long, we preached that we have to play physical football,” said Brockenbrough. “I think that’s what we did. We got a lot of quality touches. We ran right at them. We were pushing people off the football every down.
“We figured that if we ran the football the way we were capable of, time of possession should be in our favor,” the PM coach continued. “That is huge. Our best defense is our offense sometimes, and that is going to be key going through the season.”
Parker Snider paced the PM offense with 126 yards and a touchdown on 21 tries. Coleman finished with 93 yards on nine attempts, finding the end zone three times.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats, who have lost four offensive linemen to injury over the last two weeks, never really got on track offensively. The home team managed only 115 yards of total offense and just 47 yards on the ground. RC went three-and-out on five of their first seven possessions.
“Hats off to the guys up front and our linebackers,” the PM head coach praised. “We threw a couple of different things at them, and that threw them out of rhythm. Our team speed on defense is better than it has been in the four years I’ve been here.”
“A week ago, if you had asked me who is your offensive line, I would have told you five guys,” said Rhodenizer. “By the second drive Friday night, we had one of those guys in the game. That took time for us to adjust to.”
One of those short possessions was RC’s first of the game, which ended when PM’s Isaiah Gilbert intercepted a Taylan Tyree pass to set the Blues up at the RC 45-yard line. Ten plays later, Coleman scored from four yards out, and though the conversion failed, the Blues held a 14-0 lead with 5:21 left in the opening period.
The Wildcats went threeand- out again early in the second quarter, thanks to a bobbled snap and a delay of game penalty, and when PM’s Brody Julian returned the punt 21 yards, the Blues began a scoring drive at the RC 19. It took just three plays from there to light up the scoreboard again, as Coleman tallied his third TD of the first half, this time from two yards away. The failed conversion left the Blues with a 20-0 lead with 5:09 to play until intermission.
PM SENIOR fullback Thomas Conner dives for the end zone to complete a 22-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, leaving RC’s Carson Fridley (6) trailing while Wildcat Brennen Tomlin (9) watches. Conner also caught an 18-yard pass. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
FIGHTING BLUE senior Parker Snider recovers a Wildcat fumble, beating RC senior wide receiver Pat Looney (5) to the ball. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
To the Wildcats’ credit, they did not fold and seized the momentum when Pat Looney returned the ensuing kickoff 66 yards for a touchdown to get the ‘Cats on the board, down 20-6, after the missed PAT kick. And RC closed the half with an interception, seemingly seizing the momentum to be back in the thick of things at the break.
However, the third quarter started with Snider, who also handled the kickoffs for PM,, recording a big hit on the RC return man, one of 14 tackles in the game for the PM senior. After that, RC went three plays and a punt once again; in fact, the Wildcats failed to pick up a second-half first down until the 5:45 mark of the final stanza.
“That hit on the kickoff to start the second half [was huge],” Brockenbrough said. “I thought going into halftime we had gotten a little bit tired. We told them going out it started with the kickoff. We got that from one of our captains.”
“Anytime you go three-andout as an offense, that’s something you try to avoid,” said the RC coach. “If anything, I have to eat that bullet. When you are plugging guys in, you are going to get a few more mistakes than you would with the first group.” During that stretch, PM had a long drive end with a fumble, and another proved fruitless after a fourth-down pass fell incomplete. Sandwiched in with those drives was a 33-yard jaunt, highlighted by a 20-yard sprint from Snider and his 6-yard TD burst. He also ran in the 2-point conversion, and the Blues pushed their lead to 28-6. Then, with 6:59 remaining in the game, Conner got to the outside and scored from 22 yards away, and when Jordan Brockenbrough ran in the conversion, the PM lead swelled to 36-6.
The Wildcats still had one last gasp. Tyree found Carson Fridley for a 14-yard gain on third-and-four, RCHS’s initial first down in the second half, to keep the final drive alive. Jhordane Campbell added a 16-yard run on third-and-five, and four plays later, Tyree passed to Looney for a 23-yard scoring strike. Tyree ran in the conversion for the final margin.
In the game, Tyree completed 7-of-15 passes for 68 yards, the touchdown and an interception. Fridley hauled in three of those aerials for 27 yards and also led the RC ground attack with 29 yards on four tries.
“These are kids who want to play and want to get better,” said Rhodenizer. “They played hard and gave great effort. The name of the game is get better every day.”
The Wildcats hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to Turner Ashby (1-0) this Friday night. The Blues will travel as well, driving up I-81 to Shenandoah to take on Page County (0-1). Both kickoffs are scheduled for 7 p.m.
PM 14 6 8 8 36 RC 0 6 0 8 14 First Quarter PM – Coleman 58 run (Conner run) PM – Coleman 4 run (run failed) Second Quarter PM – Coleman 2 run (run failed) RC – Looney 66 kickoff return (kick failed) Third Quarter PM – Snider 6 run (Snider run) Fourth Quarter PM – Conner 22 run (J. Brockenbrough run) RC – Looney 23 pass from Tyree (Tyree run) PM RC
Rushes-yards 58-394 25-47 Passing yards 18 68 Comp-Att-Int 1-5-0 7-15-1
INDIVIDUALSTATISTICS RUSHING – PM, Snider 21-126, Coleman, 9-93, J. Brockenbrough 12-61, Rosser 6-41, Julian 5-29, Conner 1-22, Gilbert 2-14, Smals 2-8. RC, Fridley 4-29, Campbell 2-19, Corbin 6-14, Presnell 3-4, Team 2-(-9), Tyree 8-(-10).
PASSING – PM, Rosser 0-4-0 1, Smals 1-1-0 18. RC, Tyree 7-15-1 68. RECEIVING – PM, Conner 1-18. RC, Fridley 3-27, Looney 2-32, Presnell 1-9, Campbell 1-0.
RC JUNIOR Carson Fridley makes an interception at the end of the first half, beating PM junior Michael Fleming to the ball. Fridley led the Wildcats with 21 rushing yards on four carries and made three catches for 27 yards. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
PM JUNIOR quarterback Quentin Rosser runs with the ball while RC junior strong safety Harvey Presnell (2) hustles to try to stop him. PM lineman approaching are seniors Tyler Chittum (53) and Kaedin Conner (61). In his first start at quarterback, Rosser rushed for 41 yards on six carries. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
FIGHTING BLUE senior running back Parker Snider moves with the ball while several Wildcats, including RC sophomore Taylan Tyree (3), try to stop him. Approaching to help out Snider is PM senior lineman Tyler Chittum (53). (Ronnie Coffey photo)
RC STUDENTS join the crowd in a moment of silence for the late Frank Friedman and Travis Roadcap, who both passed away in July. Friedman was the mayor of Lexington, and Roadcap was the head coach for the RC baseball team. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
PM SENIOR running back Parker Snider makes a successful two-point conversion run, avoiding a tackle by RC’s Brayden Fink and a teammate, while RC’s Harvey Presnell (2) watches. (Ronnie Coffey photo)
