The Rockmart Yellow Jackets continued their winning streak in 6-AAA on the road Friday night, taking complete control of the region with a 45-7 win over the Adairsville Tigers on Friday night.

The 7-1 Jackets – who haven’t lost since their first game of the season against Rome – came off another big winning week and despite some early struggles with the Tigers defense in the first quarter, were well on their way to the road victory with a opening second-quarter score by Jai Penson, and kept their foot on the gas through the rest of the night.

Rockmart saw two scores from Javin Whatley – one on the ground, and one in the air connect within Dennis Sims – along with a Keyshaun McCullough run in on the ground, a scoop of a fumble for six by Terrion Webb, a Sims run back of a blocked field goal, and a first half-ending field goal off the boot of Jose Alegria.

It was exactly the kind of win Head Coach Biff Parson wanted to see out of the team as they get into the home stretch of the regular season.

“I’m super proud of our team,” Parson said. “This is a good football team that we played. They’re big, they’re physical, and we challenged our kids. This is the type of ball games we need as we push forward to the our second half of the year, but we wanted to stay engaged and locked in to the next game ahead and not focus on the playoffs. So this was a good test for us, and super proud of how our kids played.”

Key Takeways

The ground game rules for Rockmart, who didn’t need to pass much on the night to keep the Adairsville defense off-balance versus the variety of attacks available to the Jackets offense, and on the field for much of the game. McCullough and Lanear McCrary took on much of the rushing duties on the night, and are definitely offensive MVPs on the night.

Deidric Gibson’s interception that stopped an Adairsville drive and setup a pass between Whatley and McCrary for a short field goal to end the first half took the air out of Adairsville’s offense, though they did score in the second half. What sealed their fate for sure was the fumble scooped up by Webb for a defensive touchdown in the second half.

Special teams setup all kinds of opportunities for Rockmart on the night, including the final touchdown of the night to punctuate what continues to prove to be an exciting season for the Jackets.

Coming up

LaFayette comes to Rockmart for senior night, and then the Jackets have one more road trip to Ringgold to see how the playoff picture settles for the 2020 season. As of now, the crystal ball says the Jackets get to host the first round for sure following Thanksgiving. (Check back on that for sure…)

The 4-4 Ramblers have an up-and-down record on the year, coming off a loss to Sonoraville on Friday in a 42-38 finish. They started the season after missing the first week in a 21-20 home opener against Model, then lost on the road to area rival Gordon Lee before winning in region play over Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Murray County, taking a loss to Adairsville, then winning back-to-back against Ringgold and Coahulla Creek.

No 6-AAA team has found the winning formula to stop Rockmart yet. The Jackets stay at the top of the region standings at 6-0 after the November 6 win on the road, with North Murray in second place, Adairsville taking third and LaFayette in fourth. Ringgold, Murray County, LFO, Sonoraville and Coahulla Creek round out the rest of the 6-AAA standings.