Richard Montgomery honored their 2015 Athletics Hall of Fame inductees on the field during RM’s 20-13 victory over Clarksburg on Friday. The question remained, would any current players one day join this illustrious group? Senior Daniel Alexander emphatically made his case with two interceptions against Clarksburg, one a 99-yard return for a touchdown.
“Coach [Wheeler],” the defensive coordinator for the Rockets, “switched up the defense, so that means I’m playing over top of everything,” Alexander said. “The quarterback didn’t see me and I just took off.” The oversimplified response from Alexander does not do full justice to the momentum swinging play that stopped a 5 minute and 45 second drive by the Coyotes midway through the third quarter, and gave RM a 13-6 lead.
The Alexander brothers both had receiving touchdowns in the victory. Sophomore wide receiver Daryn Alexander caught his first touchdown of the year in the fourth quarter to put the Rockets up 20-6. The next touchdown by Clarksburg would be the closest the Coyotes could get.
“I’ve just been practicing hard,” Daryn Alexander said. “Coach said I had the chance to go out there and compete for a spot and I did well and was able to start.”
While Coach Wheeler sent a different defensive look into the game, RM’s offensive line moved around positions, and the change helped senior Jhordan Greene break down the run defense of Clarksburg in the fourth quarter to help seal the game.
Senior captain Jonathon Ortega, a tight end for the first part of the season, moved to left guard. Ortega played guard in his sophomore year, so the transition, while not seamless, was not totally new. “Of course, there were some mistakes we made, but I feel like through time, and hopefully through playoffs, we can fix those and we can have a great O-line and run the ball,” Ortega said.
“Whatever the team needs. I was kind of upset having to change my number,” from number 18 to 60, “and it was a big change, but whatever this team needs I’ll step up for it,” Ortega continued.
“It’s harder to recognize the O-lineman when they make a great play, without the ball in their hand,” Coach Klotz said. “But [Ortega] made great plays all night […] Ortega, that’s why he’s a captain. It takes a special kid to switch in the middle of the season from tight end back to guard.”
Ortega was not the only offensive lineman to move positions. Senior Sebastian Romero moved from left tackle to center, and Adam Tounkara filled the void at left tackle.
“It felt great getting that run game going again,” Greene said, who had 122 yards on 20 carries. “The offensive line stepped up big knowing we had to change it up. It was a great win overall.”
With 45 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, RM faced a predicament: Fourth down around the Clarksburg 30 yard line. To punt the ball, it would most likely be a touchback and a 10-yard difference in Clarksburg’s field position. To go for it is always a gamble, but a first down seals the game.
On fourth down, set up in the usual shotgun formation RM utilizes for rugby punts, senior captain Michael Silver, linebacker and punter, lofted a pass downfield to Daniel Alexander, going for it all, not just the first down marker.
Daniel Alexander came down with it inside the Clarksburg five-yard line, and RM sealed the victory, 20-13, extending their record to 7-1. The victory brings the Rockets closer to playoffs than they have been in the Coach Klotz era at Richard Montgomery.
“I trust Daniel, and I trust Mike Silver,” Coach Klotz said. “That’s why they’re both captains, and the kids believe in them, and again, just great players making great plays in a big game.”
“I trust Daniel and I know Daniel was trusting me,” Silver said, the backup quarterback for sophomore Spencer Silverstein. “We worked on fades all offseason. No one in the county can check [Daniel]. Period,” Silver said.
Roy Lester Stadium has not been the site of many important football games in the past years, but with playoffs more attainable than in recent memory, stakes are raised and every game is tightly contested. RM are a team with something to play for late in the season, which is something that could not have been said prior years.
“Our focus really the last two weeks has been getting better as a team. No matter who we’re playing, just reaching our potential,” Coach Klotz said. “We still made a bunch of mistakes tonight. We had three drives in the first half, and two ended in a turnover, the other in a touchdown.
“Trying to get more consistency. […] Just worrying about ourselves. Getting better as an individual, and as each individual gets better, it makes that unit better. As the unit gets better, the team gets better.”
RM travel to Gaithersburg next Friday for a Class 4A North Division game crucial in the hunt for playoffs.
