The incompletion turned out to be one of the few mistakes Rosenau and the Eagles made in a near-perfect second half as Salado dominated Academy 49-0 Friday at Eagle Stadium in the District 25-2A opener for both teams.
“The kids did a great job of putting their foot down,” Salado coach Jeff Cheatham said. “I will say this: Coach McAdams had those guys ready to play. They did a great job early in that ball game and they came to play.”
Leading 14-0 entering the third quarter, the Salado defense forced a three-and-out on Academy’s first series and took over possession at their 42.
Junior Jerod Lutz had a 19-yard run to move the ball to the Salado 39-yard line. Then, Rosenau faked an end-around play and sprinted up the middle for a 37-yard gain before the Bumblebees’ Cody Sultenfuss ran him down at the 2. Leo Galvan scored on the next play as Salado grabbed a 21-0 lead.
After another three-and-out for the Bees, Seth Collins carried twice for 19 yards and Rosenau connected with Tyler Wright for a 16-yard gain down to the 21. Collins took the handoff and raced around the right corner for the touchdown to give the Eagles a 28-0 lead.
“They have a great coaching staff and those kids are coached well,” Academy coach Royce McAdams said. “Those kids executed to perfection in the second half.”
Senior safety Matt Fritsch intercepted a Bee pass on the next series and the Eagles struck quickly.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Clayton Whitmire ran a post pattern and Rosenau found him for a 60-yard touchdown and a 35-0 lead.
Salado needed just eight plays and 2 minutes, 57 seconds to score three touchdowns on its first three second-half drives. Rosenau would later add a 5-yard touchdown run on the next series for a 42-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. He finished 7-of-13 passing for 124 yards and two touchdowns and he rushed for 94 yards and another score.
Despite eventually being blown out, the Bees hung with Salado early.
Wright scored on an 18-yard touchdown run with 6:43 left in the first for a 7-0 lead, but the Bees made them work for every yard.
Chase Reeders recovered an Eagle fumble on the next series as Academy sought to tie the game. A big tackle for a loss by Patrick Prince hurt the Bees field position and forced a punt.
Facing third-and-3, Rosenau’s keeper down the left sideline for a 35-yard gain coupled with a personal foul penalty gave the Eagles the ball at the Bees’ 35.
Rosenau found Whitmire to convert a third-and-11 and move the ball to the Academy 24. The senior quarterback then connected with Collins and, with the aid of a downfield block by Whitmire, the running back scooted in from 10 yards for a 14-0 lead.
With Salado having allowed just three plays of more than 20 yards through the first three games, Gommert changed that statistic on the next drive. He connected with Brent Lanham for a 32-yard reception and Sultenfuss on a 43-yard gain to the Salado 5.
On fourth-and-goal from the 3, the Bees’ pass fell incomplete, keeping the shutout intact.
“We’ve been playing good defense, but they gave us some schemes that we weren’t been ready for,” Cheatham said as his defense yielded 106 first-half passing yards. “We did a good job of making adjustments.”
A big reason for the stop and the second-half domination was the play of the Salado offensive and defensive lines.
“Yeah, they’re big,” McAdams said. “More than that, they’re athletes. Dallas Butts, he’s not just big, he can move. That’s why they play so well, especially up front. They put a lot pressure on us defensively and we had a hard time opening up any holes.”
The Bees managed minus-4 yards of total offense in the second half and finished with minus-6 rushing yards on 25 carries for the game.
“We have to go back to work,” McAdams said. “We’re a young team and still trying to improve. Right now, we don’t do things very well. If they want to, we will.”
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
