Football: Gardendale 42, Minor 26
The Italian Stallion slugger from Philadelphia, Rocky Balboa, put it best: “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”
It turns out the relentless fighter was right, as Gardendale took a thunderous blow last week, only to rise to their feet, surge forward and claim victory over Minor 42-26 at home on Friday night.
The Rockets rebounded Following the loss to Mortimer Jordan in last week’s jamboree, which saw Gardendale lose one of its key offensive weapons due to injury — Connor Reed, who will miss three to six weeks after a leg fracture.
The contest started with the Tigers landing a haymaker at the opening bell. Gardendale was down 6-0 before a single play from scrimmage, as a result of Royshad Mack taking the opening kickoff to the house.
“The thing I’m most proud of is after [Minor] returned the opening kickoff back, we didn’t flinch,” said Gardendale head coach Chris Fancher.
The Rockets quickly showed their iron jaw with a touchdown drive that ended with Juan Jackson’s 23-yard scamper to the end zone, with 6:48 remaining in the first quarter.
The Rockets struck again after Minor mishandled a snap on a field goal attempt. Gardendale quarterback Hunter Crook took advantage of the Tigers mistake with a 33-yard rush that placed the Rockets offense on the 3-yard-line.
Senior running back Jordan Howard took over from there with a 2-yard touchdown rush on third down.
“Hunter played within himself and showed great poise tonight,” said Fancher.
The score was 14-6 in favor of Gardendale with 9:40 remaining in the first half.
Howard struck again with a short scoring run before intermission.
From there, Gardendale never looked back. Their balanced offense and opportunistic defense made for a tough opponent for the Tigers.
Crook connected with tight end Jesse Blackburn midway through the third period for 31 yards and a touchdown. It was Blackburn’s longest reception out of four for the night; he gained 57 yards in catches plus two runs for 45 yards.
Minor showed some toughness of there own in the second half. Mondarrius Griggs hooked up with running back Ladarius Waldrop for a 20-yard touchdown pass, and then Griggs found the end zone on the following drive on a 7-yard run. Minor trailed 28-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Rockets stayed poised, despite the Minor surge. Rockets tight end Gabe Hill reeled in an acrobatic one-handed catch from Crook that set-up Howard for a 2-yard touchdown run.
The lead was stretched out to 35-20 in favor of Gardendale with 10:46 remaining in the game.
The Tigers were looking to find the end zone before a Griggs fumble was scooped up by Gardendale defensive back Dylan Finkley and returned 90 yards for a touchdown.
Griggs would reach the end zone once more, but the Rockets escaped the game with a victory that earned them a 1-0 start to the 2012 season.
The Rockets displayed a balanced offense that produced 326 yards of total offense and 19 first downs. Gardendale’s defense held an athletic Minor offense to 244 total yards on 15 first downs.
Howard finished with 78 yards on nine carries with three touchdowns.
Crook was 8-for-14 for 128 yards in passing.
Khaleb Burdette led the Rocket defense with 11 tackles plus two assists. D.J. Lewis had four solo tackles and seven assists, plus a sack and a fumble recovery.