Rockdale used its ball-control offense to chisel away at Yoe for 403 yards rushing en route to a 43-21 victory at Tiger Stadium on Friday night in the 53rd edition of the “Battle of the Bell.”
The win capped the regular season for the Tigers (4-6 overall, 2-2 District 18-3A), who have a week to celebrate before the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. The Yoemen (5-4, 2-1), who are also playoff-bound, will try to regroup before their district finale next week at home against No. 2-ranked Liberty Hill.
“I told our kids before the game, ‘If I have to say something inspirational to get you fired up to play this game, then you don’t need to be in this locker room,’” Rockdale coach Jeff Miller said while his players rang the brass railroad bell the schools have played for since 1954.
The Tigers took it to the Yoemen from the outset, pounding Yoe’s defense with the relentless running of senior tailback Kortlin White.
White rushed for 223 yards and three touchdowns, carrying the ball 20 times for 129 yards in the first half as Rockdale put the game all but out of reach before intermission.
“We wanted to make a statement and we knew we could do it,” White said. “It feels great to get that bell back. That’s one memory you want to have as a senior. You want to be able to say, ‘We beat Cameron our senior year.’”
Unable to contain White, the Yoemen were on the bottom end of a lopsided time of possession scale in the first half. Yoe had the ball for less than seven minutes through the first two quarters, and the Yoemen struggled to do anything with it when they did.
Yoe had 117 yards on just 21 snaps in the first half - compared to 317 on 42 for Rockdale - and went into the break down 28-7.
“We just couldn’t get the ball away from them,” Yoemen coach Mike Mullins said. “Then it just kind of snowballed on us. I thought at times we would gain a little momentum back, but then it would go the other way again.”
The Tigers took control with first-half scoring drives that covered 71, 84 and 99 yards. White had touchdown runs of 2 and 9 yards, and Nick Hammett caught a 2-yard TD pass from Mark Drake to cap the lengthy marches. Rockdale also got a 20-yard scoring jaunt from Cois Walker following Shelby Leshiker’s interception of Steven Townsend in the second quarter.
“We have such great leadership on this team and so much momentum right now that we feel like we should win when we step on the field,” Miller said. “And Yoe has a tremendous team with some great athletes. But I think that says a lot about the character of our kids and how they are playing right now.”
Things continued to go downhill for the Yoemen in the second half. James Wells chased the bouncing, opening kickoff of the third quarter into the end zone, where he was swarmed under by the Tigers for a safety.
After Drake’s 10-yard scoring toss to Bobby Joe Tindle made it 36-7 midway through the third, Yoe made its only push of the night.
Townsend’s second touchdown pass of the game was a 37-yarder to Brandon Freeman in the final minute of the third, and Townsend hooked up with Thomas Limmer for an 11-yard score and a two-point conversion with that cut the gap to 36-21 with 7:42 remaining.
The Tigers closed the door and capped the scoring with White’s 6-yard TD run a little more than a minute later.
Townsend finished with 160 yards on 14-of-29 passing, but the Yoemen rushed for just 79 yards.
“I think there’s a lesson to learn here, but at the same time you can’t dwell on it too long,” Mullins said. “We know where we stand as far as the playoffs are concerned, and now we have to regroup and work hard."
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
