We are back at Wilkerson-Sanders Memorial Stadium for Week 5 of our football tour, and this week is rivalry week! Today the Rockwall-Heath Hawks are taking on their cross town rivals the Rockwall Yellow Jackets in the I-30 Classic. Both teams are coming into the match up 3-1, with their only losses coming to very respectable football teams themselves. As we mentioned in Week 1 the Heath Hawks are known to have one of the best offenses in the state, but so do the Rockwall Yellow Jackets. Under center for the Yellow Jackets is three-star quarterback Braedyn Locke, who is committed to Mississippi State University.
Rockwall-Heath would start out with the ball, and get things going quick as usual. It would take less than three minutes of game time for Zach Evans to break off a huge touchdown run. The Yellow Jackets would get Zach Hernandez going early in the drive but it was Braedyn Locke’s deep pass to Caden Marshall that really got things going for Rockwall. Marshall would haul in a 41-yard pass to set Rockwall up inside the five-yard line. A few plays later, Hernandez would punch in a one-yard touchdown tying up the game.
Things would really get interesting quickly when Rockwall elected for an onside kick in the first quarter, and recovered it. This ballsy play gave the Yellow Jackets great field position, and they weren’t done with the tricks just yet. Caden Marshall would take a sweep, but end up throwing a touchdown pass to junior wideout Aiden Meeks. With five minutes to go in the first quarter the score now read 14-7, Rockwall High School.
The Hawks rushing attack would help them quickly respond and tie up the game. Zach Evans would break off another big play, and flip the field for Heath. Once they got in the red zone Brittan Snider gave Evans a breather and punched in a three-yard touchdown. With under two minutes in the first quarter Braedyn Locke would throw his first touchdown of the night. He connected on a 36-yard touchdown pass to Caden Marshall to give the lead right back to the Yellow Jackets. Josh Hoover wouldn’t let them lead for long though as he and Baylor commit Jordan Nabors would connect on a touchdown pass right before the end of the 1st quarter. Nabors would take a quick pass from Hoover 75-yards to the crib to tie the game right back up. At the end of the first quarter we were all tied up 21-21.
Both teams would turn the ball over after failed fourth down attempts on the opening drives of the 2nd quarter. That would really be some of the only defense we would see for the rest of the game. The next time Rockwall-Heath got the ball they would make quick work of the Yellow Jackets defense with a deep strike to Jay Fair. The connection from Hoover to Fair would go for 69-yards, and give the Hawks a 28-21 lead with seven minutes left in the half.
Zach Hernandez would show off his workhorse capabilities with multiple big runs on the Yellow Jackets next drive. Hernandez was able to get the ball to the three-yard line before Lake Bennett would punch in his first TD of the night. Rockwall-Heath would be able to march down the field right before half, and retake the lead. Thanks to a 18-yard touchdown run from Zach Evans the Hawks took a 35-28 lead right before halftime.
During the third quarter we would see Rockwall-Heath really start to pull away and build a lead. Zach Evans would rush in his third touchdown of the night and cap off the drive with a 10-yard TD. The Yellow Jackets wouldn’t be able to get anything going and come up with 0 points on their first two drives. Josh Hoover would make them regret that fact even more once he hit Lance Mason for a 10-yard touchdown. Suddenly the game was 49-28 with roughly five minutes left in the third quarter.
Rockwall would rally in those five minutes and put up a quick 14 points. Braedyn Locke would once again connect with Caden Marshall for a long touchdown score. The Yellow Jackets quickly got the ball back and were bringing out all the tricks to get back into the game. After yet another huge grab from Caden Marshall Rockwall was once again in the red zone. Zach Hernandez would fool pretty much the entire Hawk defense, and throw to a wide open Aiden Meeks bringing the score to 49-42 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Josh Hoover completed a quick pass to Jordan Nabors who would then break off an extra 35-yards for the Hawks. However we would see Jarrett Stoner come up with a big pass break up to force Rockwall-Heath off the field. Once again Locke & Hernadez would help march down the field, and with just eight minutes left in the game, Rockwall would tie it up. After getting down to the one-yard line Braedyn Locke took it in himself for the one-yard touchdown run.
Thanks to the hard running of Brittan Snider and Zach Evans; Rockwall-Heath got to the one-yard line in under three minutes. On a night where Josh Hoover passed for four touchdowns through the air possibly his biggest one would be his one on the ground. Hoover would take the quarterback-option and leap into the end zone to take a 56-49 lead. The game was still far from over though. Once again Hernandez would bully his way down the field and into Hawks territory. Coach Brooks would pull out the trickery again as Lake Bennett would fake a quarterback draw to find a wide open Brennan Ray for a 21-yard touchdown. Rockwall would complete the 2pt conversion, and take a 57-56 lead with roughly two minutes left in the game.
In the most intense drives we have seen all year the Hawks pushed down the field. Hoover would take two big shots to Jay Fair with under a minute in the game, one of which nearly came down as a touchdown. It didn’t matter though because a few plays later the future Indiana Hoosier would find Lance Mason for a 21-yard touchdown strike. Mason would have to dive into the end zone with his arm fully extended, but the Hawks take the lead 64-57.
Braedyn Locke would get one final sling at it with under 10 seconds in the game. He launched it 51-yards, tipped, and caught by a diving Aiden Meeks. Tie game. We’re going into overtime 64-64.
Overtime would start off with the Yellow Jackets on offense. Lake Bennett would push his way into the end zone one more time making the score 71-64. Zach Evans would come back with back to back rushing touchdowns of his own which would then flip the score real fast. The Hawks also went for the dagger, and completed their 2 point attempt making the score now 79-71. Locke would unfortunately make his only mistake of the night in the 2nd OT of the game. Senior safety Layne Horak would jump in front of a pass intended for Brennan Ray, and make the game winning interception. Who would have thought a 79-71 2OT game would be determined by a defensive play?
Our Player of the Game would have to go to senior wide receiver Caden Marshall. Caden came down with 10 catches, 257 receiving yards, three total touchdowns and the 2 point conversion in the fourth quarter. Be sure to check out our second game of our Week 5 matchups as Paschal High School takes on Chisholm Trail High School.
