Mounties post big win — happy to hand off
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
BY TOM GLAVE Sports Writer tomg @ nwanews. com The Rogers Mounties went old-school to beat the town's new school. The Mounties pounded their city rival on the ground, picking up 323 rushing yards, a big 49-14 victory against Rogers Heritage and the Rotary Cup - a traveling trophy for the winner of this new rivalry. Rogers, which has used the Spread offense under coach Ronnie Peacock since he came from pass-happy Greenwood in 2001, threw it just three times in the victory at Mountie Stadium. "I hadn't done that in a long time - where you just kind of hand it off and be in control," Peacock said. "You can make first downs and just be confident that you're going to be able to possess the ball (for a long time ) and score. "The Mounties (3-2, 1-1 ) did just that - scoring 42 unanswered points in the first half.
Senior running back Michael Tibbs scored twice on the ground in the first quarter to erase a quick 7-0 deficit and junior D. J. Smart added an interception return in between them.
Tibbs rushed for four touchdowns and 203 yards on 24 carries.
"We thought we had really good control with our running game and our offensive linemen and we stayed with it," Peacock said. "It runs the clock and obviously we had some control."
Tibbs had touchdown runs of 14, 5, 1 and 5 - the last coming on the final play of the mercyrule shortened third quarter.
The first capped a four-play, 46-yard drive to tie the game at 7 after Heritage's Jordan Snoderly caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Reed Brown on the War Eagles'first possession.
Smart picked off Brown on their second possession, stepping in front of a pass and returning it 33 yards.
After a Heritage punt, the Mounties rushed it 11 straight times before Tibbs scored for a 21-7 lead.
Rogers triggered the running clock - the second time in two games at Mountie Stadium - thanks to three touchdowns in a two-minute span and a goal-line stand in the second quarter.
Junior Ethan Melton caught a 12-yard pass from junior quarterback Andy Couture to cap a five-play, 39-yard drive with 10: 04 left in the period.
It was one of Couture's three passing attempts in the game. He completed two for 18 yards.
After Melton's catch made it 28-7, senior linebacker Taylor Reamer recovered a War Eagle fumble on the ensuing kickoff and the Mounties scored three plays later on a Tibbs run.
Reamer, who also had a fourth-quarter interception, jumped on another loose ball when Brown fumbled on the next offensive play. Rogers senior running back Justin Reed - who rushed four times for 42 yards - punched it three plays later for a 42-7 lead with 8: 01 left.
"We turned the ball over three times (in the first half ) and they got a shot porch all three times," Heritage coach Perry Escalante said. "You can't do that and survive. You can't do that and beat anybody."
The War Eagles (3-2, 0-2 ) then put together a long drive - marching down to the Rogers 1 - but came up empty. The Mounties stuffed Brown's run on first-and-goal before three incompletions.
Heritage got the ball back with 25 seconds left but Rogers junior Casey Caton grabbed a tipped pass after time expired.
The teams combined for seven turnovers.
A Rogers fumble on its first possession set up Heritage's opening score.
Snoderly, who finished with six catches for 61 yards, also caught a 5-yard touchdown from Brown on fourth-and-goal after the War Eagles took nine minutes off running clock in the third quarter.
Brown finished 14 of 32 for 191 yards. Travis Entwisle had four catches for 67 yards to lead the War Eagles. MOUNTIES 49, WAR EAGLES 14 Heritage 7 0 7 0 - 14 Rogers 21 21 7 0 - 49 FIRST QUARTER HHS - Jordan Snoderly 26 PASS from Reed Brown (Hayden Severs kick ), 9: 03 RHS - Michael Tibbs 14 RUN (Matt Alderson kick ), 7: 27 RHS - D. J. Smart 33 INT RETURN (Alderson kick ), 6: 38 RHS - Tibbs 5 RUN (Alderson kick ), 0: 40 SECOND QUARTER RHS - Ethan Melton 12 PASS from Andy Couture (Alderson kick ), 10: 04 RHS - Tibbs 1 RUN (Alderson kick ), 9: 37 RHS - Justin Reed 10 RUN (Alderson kick ), 8: 01 THIRD QUARTER HHS - Snoderly 5 PASS from Reed (Severs kick ), 2: 59 RHS - Tibbs 5 RUN (Alderson kick ), 0: 00 TEAM STATISTICS HHS RHS First downs 11 20 Rushes-yards 18-37 45-323 Passing yards 191 18 Total offense 228 341 Comp-Att-Int 14-32-3 2-3-0 Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-2 Punts-yards 2-10 8-73 Pen-yards 3-28 1-38 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING - HHS: Stewart 7-15, Snoderly 2-8, Brown 3- (-7 ), Austin 6-21; RHS: Tibbs 24-203, Couture 8-38, Reed 4-42, Beach 8-40, Obenshain 1-0. PASSING - HHS: Brown 14-32-2 191; RHS: Couture 2-3-0 18. RECEIVING - HHS: Snoderly 6-61, Entwisle 4-67, Stewart 2-32, Austin 1-5, Wilbur 1-26; RHS: Parker 1-6, Melton 1-12. MISSED FIELD GOAL - None.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online