What a magical ride it was for the Richard Montgomery Rockets football team. A 9-1 regular season led to a second place seed in Class 4A West, and the first ever home playoff game. It was all to be undone by the Northwest Jaguars again, the Rockets’ only previous loss, this time by a score of 33-21.
Northwest stunned the full crowd at Roy Lester Stadium with a 70-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. The play action fake drew the Rockets in, and before they could react, the Jaguars had jumped on top. They would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game, and even as RM fought in the second half for respectability, Northwest remained in control, despite 23 penalties called against the Jaguars.
The history made by the 2015 Rockets is just the start. While 19 seniors graduate from the team, the precedent has been set for the underclassmen. “I’m very proud of where they’ve brought our program in the last three years,” Coach Klotz said. “All season I’ve given them credit for all their leadership and they’ve raised the standard for RM football. Losing has been accepted here for quite a while and they were able to buy into what we’ve been doing and raise the standard. We’ll see now if these young kids can carry on the tradition.”
Richard Montgomery will lose key offensive and defensive components, such as Daniel Alexander. The wide receiver and safety had an interception and a touchdown reception against Northwest. Daniel leaves his sophomore brother Daryn and junior Gregory Heredia as the main targets for sophomore quarterback Spencer Silverstein.
“It’s kind of depressing, because that is my brother,” Daryn said of Daniel’s end to high school football. “We only played one year together, and I wish we could’ve had more together. It’s our first actual time playing together since we were six – and that didn’t really count cause I was snapping the ball to him.”
An immediate spark of life came from junior Tylen Hebron right after halftime. The running back cut outside to avoid the Jaguar blitz on third and eleven. He then put on a burst of speed to score a 70-yard touchdown. The next drive, the Jaguars took care of business and scored another touchdown, pushing the lead to 26-7.
Michael Silver, linebacker and backup quarterback, went under center for the fourth quarter and threw two touchdown passes to bring the score to 33-21. The final surge from RM was too little, too late, but it was the fight the Rockets displayed all season en route to a 9-1 regular season.
“I felt like we gave it our all for the last two quarters. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted but it was a great way to end the season and a great way to lead our underclassmen up to next year,” Daniel Alexander said.
“Personally getting to know [the seniors] since they were freshman, when I first came here, their freshman winter, just to see how they’ve evolved from into young men who are great leaders and great friends and great teammates and great sons, and obviously great football players and great students,” Coach Klotz said. “It’s just been personally really rewarding to see them grow up in my first few years here.”
As Coach Fahrner said before the game, “No matter what happens tomorrow night, we are normal again. Richard Montgomery football is back.”
“It’s really in the hands of these underclassmen,” Coach Klotz said. “See how hard they work in the weight room, what they do in the offseason to put themselves in position from next year – what they’ve learned from the seniors. We have some good players, and really more importantly, we’ve got some great kids.”
