By RAY SCHAEFER — For The Independent
Morehead — Rockcastle County walked the length of Coach Paul Ousley Stadium before Friday’s Class 4A first round playoff game against Rowan County.
Once the game started, the Rockets mostly ran over the Vikings. Sophomore running back Clarke Rowe’s 227 rushing yards and six touchdowns led a 41-21 win.
Rowan County coach ShaDon Brown was impressed with Rowe.
“We just didn’t tackle him,” Brown said. “We hit him a few times, we didn’t wrap him up. He made a few big plays on us.”
More than a few, actually.
In his 25 carries, Rowe averaged just over nine yards per attempt. His yards alone accounted for just over 57 percent of Rockcastle County’s 395 total yards, and he scored from 28, 3, 8, 15, 6 and 21 yards away.
It was the most touchdowns Rowe ever scored in one game. One stood out.
“The last one, to secure the win,” Rowe said
Rowan County was its own worst enemy at times; the Vikings lost six fumbles, three on Rockcastle squib kicks.
Credit the Rockcastle County defense, too, for holding Rowan County junior running back Darrell Cross to 51 rushing yards on 12 carries. The Vikings gained just 10 more on the ground for the night.
Cross countered by catching a 55-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Adam Wing with 8:29 left in the game and tossing a 16-yard TD pass to senior Brijesh Patel with 7.8 seconds to go.
Rowe, who came into last night as the No.3 runner in the state, pretty much did what he wanted. His first touchdown was an example: three yards up the middle, five on a pitch to the right, and the final 28 untouched around left end.
“We condition good, practice hard,” Rowe said.
Brown said earlier this week there would be surprises for the home crowd, but in Friday’s first quarter the Rockets provided the highlights.
Rockcastle County (5-6), started the game with a squib kick, which the Vikings lost. Three plays later, 7-0 Rockets, just 92 seconds into the game.
Here’s how ugly Rowan County’s first quarter was: two fumbled kickoffs, quarterback Adam Wing’s fumble — and 21 straight points on Rowe’s 3- and 8-yard scores.
Rockcastle County coach Scott Larkey uses short kickoffs because he has to.
“That’s kind of what we’ve doing all year,” Larkey said. “We’ve had a little bit of a difficult time covering kicks, especially when they’re deep. (We tried) to keep the ball away from Cross as much as we can.”
Rowan County might have been able to do something if its offense could get on the field — it managed just six plays in the first quarter and 24 for the half. Rockcastle County, meanwhile, had 35 snaps for the opening 24 minutes.
Wing threw for 172 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown to Phillip Hodge with 51.2 seconds to go in the half.
Rockcastle County meets Bell County next week in Pineville.
For Rowan County, the 2009 season had at least two things to remember: the Vikings’ 7-4 record was the reverse of 2008’s 4-7, and Friday was the school’s first time to host a postseason game since 1984.
“Take nothing away from our football team for this year,” Brown said. “… First winning season in 12 years.”
