The Rockmart Yellow Jackets continue their successful season and moved to 10-1 on the year win a Friday night playoff win over White County.

The Jackets took a knee and ran out the clock with a 48-35 win over the Warriors, with Javin Whatley squarely the Player of the Game after a six touchdown performance that included a pair of jump-ball touchdown passes to Dennis Sims, three runs into the end zone and a kickoff return to round out most of the scoring on the night for the Jackets.

Head Coach Biff Parson said that it showed just how talented the senior quarterback is, and what he has been able to do with the Jackets for the past four years.

“The thing about Javin is – it’s crazy – when he knows there’s competition, he rises to the occasion and that’s the sign of a good football player,” Parson said. “I’m super proud of how he played and how our whole team just fought through the whole game.”

Rockmart’s Jojo Haynes also scored late to help secure the 13-point win for Rockmart over White County, who put up five scores on the night themselves. Parson said it was a testament to how each team is able to score almost at any moment in the game.

What became key were late stops by a Rockmart defense that was “gassed” according to Parson, coming up with a knocked down pass on fourth down that converted and allowed the Jackets offense to march up the field and run out the clock with a knee late.

Rockmart moved to 10-1 with the win, and host a Cedar Grove team that is 3-4 overall but came out with a win over an 8-2 Monroe-Atlanta in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs, and finished the Hurricanes season on the road.

Key Takeaways

Rockmart has a chance to continue their playoff dominance over Cedar Grove, but they better be careful: the Saints have won their last three in a row after a late start to their season in October. Rockmart does have more time on the field overall, which is likely to play in their favor. Along with a home field advantage.

Anyone who isn’t trying actively in Division I to get Javin Whatley under center for them is crazy. He is effective on the pass, on misdirection running plays (I can provide plenty of examples where he even tricks camera operators…) and has a way of creating positive yards when defenses have him on the run. Someone come give him a scholarship already!

High snaps and ball control are two areas where the Jackets need to work in practice this week. Several times during the game Whatley and QB JD Davis had to grab high snaps and make plays out of what could have been fumbles, and the Jackets almost lost the ball on at least two occasions during the night. Their defense did come up big with a fumble recovery in the second half to stop a Warriors drive cold in their tracks.

Penalties were a problem too for the Jackets. Rockmart’s secondary has over the past weeks gotten several pass interference calls against them that likely should have gone the other way.

Yellow flags played a big role in White County getting in scoring position on Friday night, so it is something to at least note. The deeper the Jackets go in the playoffs, the more likely that 15-yard calls will hurt.

Friday’s game was the first meeting between the Jackets and Warriors, and coming up Cedar Grove will also be a first meeting between two teams. It is also the first time the Jackets have made it to the Class AAA playoffs since 2014 when the Jackets were under the leadership of Bin Turner and in Region 5-AAA.

It is the fifth year in a row the Jackets have made it to the Sweet 16 round of play, the previous four years in Class AA and have earned a runner-up spot after playing at the Benz in 2018.