Richard Montgomery’s ground game and defense triumphed once again, as they won against rival Rockville High School by a score of 28-20.

The Gold Rush arrived to Roy Lester Stadium early for the pregame picnic, and got hyped up as soon as they stepped foot inside. With a few minutes before game time, the Rockets took the field in their brand new grey alternate uniforms. With chants of “We got the juice” and “School by the Woods” coming from the home crowd, the stage was set for the highly anticipated rivalry game.

Sophomore Jonathan Harwood kicked off to the Rams to start the game. The Rams, led by senior quarterback Julian Mobley and senior running back Christopher Wallace, drove all the way down field within three minutes to put the first touchdown of the game on the board. Tylen Hebron rushed the line on the PAT, blocking it to keep the lead at only six points by a score of 6-0.

The Rockets started deep in their own territory for their first offensive possession. On the first set of downs, they came up facing a crucial third down with seven yards to the first. Spencer Silverstein handed the ball off to Tylen Hebron who cutback and picked up 30 yards on the carry, converting the third down and putting the Rockets in Rams territory on the play.

The ground game continued to dominate the next set of downs, but this time it was senior Kris Ricks with the pick up on third down. Two plays later, Hebron would run the ball into the end zone for his sixth touchdown of the season. The PAT from Harwood was good, and with that the Rockets led by a score of 7-6.

The ensuing defensive possession started off with a string of short completions by Mobley that slowly inched the Rams further up the field. On a play action pass, Mobley lobbed the ball up to Devin Monroe, who beat Rocket defenders down the left sideline. However, senior safety George Bryan hit Monroe, stripping the ball at the same time. Bryan recovered the fumble in the endzone, giving the Rockets the ball back as well as preventing the Rams’ go-ahead 67-yard touchdown.

Bryan, who made his first career start against Rockville remarked, “My whole career has been leading up to this game, and I’ve been proving myself to everyone for so long that I knew when I got my chance, I had to capitalize on it.”

After a few rushing plays from the Rockets that resulted in one first down, the quarter came to an end, with a score of 7-6 in favor of RM.

The second quarter opened up with the Rockets just ten yards out from the end zone. Silverstein handed the ball off to Ricks, who juked past three defenders and pranced in for the score. Harwood converted on the PAT, and the Rockets went up with a score of 14-6.

The next Rockville possession was dominated by RM’s defensive line, who got through the offensive line and put great pass rush and pressure on Julian Mobley. On a decisive third down for the Rams, senior Zaire Mitchell-Paden hit Wallace in the backfield for a loss, causing the Rams to punt the ball away to the Rockets.

On third down for the Rockets, Silverstein threw a short screen pass to senior Zion Ledyard. However, Rockville upped their defensive pressure and pass coverage, and on fourth down for the Rockets, junior defensive tackle Kevin Rogers stuffed Hebron in the backfield, forcing the Rockets’ turnover on downs.

With six minutes to go in the half, Mobley and the Ram offense were orchestrating a drive, as they had already gotten into Rocket territory. On a critical third down, Mobley heaved up a pass to Devin Monroe, but junior Daryn Alexander came up to intercept the pass.

RM took over on their own 20 yard line with three and a half minutes to go. Silverstein opened the drive up with a 30 yard completion to senior receiver Greg Heredia for a huge pickup into Rockville’s side of the field. Three plays later, Kris Ricks took the handoff from Silverstein and took it all the way to the house for his second touchdown of the game. Harwood converted the PAT again, and the Rockets extended their lead to 21-6 with under three minutes to go in the half.

The Rams drove all the way down the field as time was running down and scored on a short carry by Christopher Wallace. The two-point conversion attempt was no good, so as time expired in the half, the Rockets led by a score of 21-12.

After an entertaining halftime performance by the RM Pom Squad and a game of bubble soccer by some of the RM cluster’s favorite teachers, both teams were ready to resume play. The Gold Rush crowd was on their feet once again, and louder than ever to get the players psyched for the final half of play.

The Rockets received the second half kickoff, and their drive started off well. Tylen Hebron opened up the half with a 40 yard ground gain to set up the RM offense in prime scoring position. However, a miscommunication between Silverstein and Hebron resulted in a fumbled handoff that Rockville recovered.

The Rams’ drive once again was highlighted by the Rockets’ defense. Junior captain Adam Tounkara beat the offensive linemen on multiple occasions, racking up a couple sacks and several knockdowns. On one of the plays where Tounkara was present in the backfield, Mobley threw as he was hit, and Kris Ricks picked off the pass after snatching it out of Monroe’s hands.

The next Rockets drive started off as the previous ones did: with tremendous rushing attacks. However, after Zion Ledyard caught the first pass from Silverstein, senior defensive lineman Cameron Hoppman of Rockville picked up Ledyard and threw him on the ground well after the play had been called dead. This hit resulted in a penalty and Hoppman’s ejection. However, Ledyard was not hurt during the play.

The Rockets ended their drive with another turnover on downs, and the RM defense took the field. Senior Jack Fonseca came up huge during the drive, knocking down Mobley for a sack with a huge loss to pin the Rams back further. However, George Bryan came up once again, this time picking off Mobley in the end zone to prevent another touchdown.

As time began to run down, Hebron took another handoff from Silverstein all the way to rack up his second touchdown of the game, this one coming on a 35 yard rushing play. Harwood knocked in the PAT, and the Rockets extended their lead at the end of the third by a score of 28-12.

The Rockets opened up the final quarter of play with even more pass rush. Mitchell-Paden ate up Mobley, downing him for a huge loss in the backfield along with teammate Tounkara. However, Mobley used his athleticism to escape the collapsed pocket and find one of his receivers for a touchdown to pull the Rams closer to the Rockets in score. Their two-point conversion attempt was successful, shortening the score gap to 28-20.

The Rockets started the final drive with 5:45 remaining in the game. The coaches elected to chew the clock all the way down by continually handing the ball off to either Tylen Hebron, Kris Ricks, or Enrique Zuniga. After a string of first downs, the clock was running down and Silverstein and the offense went into victory formation. The home crowd went wild as the clock hit zero. RM had defeated Rockville by a score of 28-20.

When asked how the team kept focus throughout rivalry week, Coach Klotz stated, “It wasn’t hard. When it’s rivalry week and the school has a palpable excitement all week, it wasn’t hard for these guys to get focused. It was the least effort I’ve had to do to get them focused.” The Rockets look to continue their winning streak and undefeated season next week at Wootton High School.

Featured photo by Tony Sandoval.