| As Titusville hits the road tonight to take on Grove City, they find themselves in a tough spot. They are 0-2 on the season and though last week’s loss to Girard is nothing to hang their heads about, they face an Eagles team that slaughtered Fairview last week 43-7 and a week prior lost a barnburner of their own losing by two to North East 43-25. And though Grove City has only scored three more points this season than the Rockets, they have given up up fifty less points. This is the first conference game for the Rockets which adds to the importance of getting back on track in the win column. If they play like they did last week against Girard, they should have a good chance. Did you miss it? Last Friday night’s game between Titusville and Girard was quite a game culminating in coaches decision to go for the win instead of a tie in overtime. The 56-55 overtime loss could be used as a teaching tool, especially in the dos and don’ts of special teams play. For the Rockets it was still a vast improvement from their first week performance against Corry. It took all of 13 seconds for the Rockets to score against Girard. Michael Culpepper caught the opening kickoff at the 15-yard line and ran it 85 yards for a touchdown. kicker Max Chatham split the uprights for a 7-0 lead. Defensively however the Rockets continue to struggle. For the second straight week they gave up seven touchdowns in regulation. The difference this Friday though, they also scored seven. Girard's first possession was a methodical seven minute drive to tie the game. Not to be outdone, Titusville’s offense put together a 61-yard drive mostly behind some solid run blocking and Jaydin O’Neill’s legs that did most of the work to set up a nine-yard pass from Brody Sellen to Blake Ross to go up 14-7. O'Neil's running to was much improved getting to his blockers and letting them do their work before finding a crease to get more yards. The brown and gold looked poised to take control of the game. But Girard’s Aiden Arnold took the subsequent kickoff 81-yards to tie the game seconds later at 14. A 1:10 seconds later O’Neill scampered 45-yards to start the second quarter and put the Rockets up 21-14. Girard responded a couple minutes later with a long run of their own to tie it up again. Then it looked like the wheels were about to come off. Girard got a stop forcing a punt. The snap sailed over the Rocket punter's head and the Yellowjackets got the ball on the seven. Three plays later they scored taking a 28-21 lead. The Rockets put together another nice drive getting all the way down to the Yellowjackets three. But they failed to punch it in and turned it over on downs on the five with less than a minute in the half. All Girard had to do was protect the ball and they take a lead into halftime. Maybe even take a knee. Instead, what transpired was a wild final 47.7 seconds. A handoff up the middle was met with a Blake Ross hand to the ball tackle dislodging it forward where a host of Rockets pounced on it. The Rockets promptly took advantage two plays later on a Sellen to Jimmy Becker nine-yard pass to tie the game up. Girard got the ball with 12 seconds left on their own 46. They handed it to Mason Kalicky who was staring down the endzone with no one in front of him when Titusville’s Alex Hartshorne had a touchdown saving tackle at the 14 with about 3 seconds left. Girard, with a good kicker, elected to attempt a 31 yard-field goal. The snap was bad and the ball scooted away from the holder, when Hartshorne made a case for the best 12 seconds of the football season. He scooped it up around the 20 yard line and took it to house. Suddenly the Rockets, who were down a score about to go into halftime, found themselves up a touchdown. What a half. It appeared Titusville was going to take that momentum into the second half when they stopped Girard getting the ball back on downs. But Titusville failed to capitalize and was forced to punt from their own territory. Like deja-vu however they found themselves backed against their end zone when another bad snap sailed over the Rocket punter, turning it over on downs. It didn’t take long for Girard to find the end zone. Girard attempted a 2-point conversion and failed. Titusville clung on to a 1-point lead. The Rockets drove and even converted a tough fourth and five, but couldn’t keep driving. They attempted a 37-yard field goal, a distance Chattham hit a week earlier. But this attempt was blocked and Girard started their next drive from their own 45. On third and 10, they threw a screen pass to Kalicky who took it 57-yards for a go-ahead score. This time the two-point conversion was successful putting them up again by seven. The score remained 42-35 until four minutes into the fourth quarter when O’Neil had his second long break away run of 58-yards. Now, the Rockets failed to convert making it 42-41. Girard added an insurance touchdown with an Arnold 43-yard run. With under six minutes left and the ball on their own 35 yard line, the Rockets needed a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie. And that is exactly what they did. Again relying on the legs of O’Neill for impressive yards that were aided by a fantastic catch and another run for a pair of first downs by Ross who also converted on a fourth and three. Adam Reynolds also corralled a Sellen Pass to put them inside the ten with a couple minutes left. Sellen hit Dalton Knapp with a pass with 1:27 left to bring the Rockets within two. Sellen then hit Michael Cullpepper in the end zone for the two-point conversion to tie the game. They held Girard and the clock ran out forcing overtime. “The character of this team is impressive,” said coach Mike Reynolds of his players being able to stay in the game until the end. In overtime Girard got the ball first and took very little time to score. Arnold, who also had over 200 yards of total offense, took the hand off and ran ten yards on the first play. High school overtime rules give each team four plays from the ten to score. The extra point was good. Now the Rockets had four plays to score and they punched it in on three straight O’Neill runs. Coach Reynolds decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion attempt. The over 3 hour game came down to one play. Sellen sent a pass, after scrambling around to avoid being sacked, into the corner of the end zone where O’Neil was in position, but the pass was deflected away by Girard’s River Rogers to end the contest 56-55. Girard sits undefeated and the Rockets winless after 111 points scored in the nearly three and half hour war. O’Neill had a career game rushing for 204 yards and he added a 17-yard pass reception. Sellen had over 120 yards passing including 79 to Ross on eight catches. The Rockets had nearly 400 yards of total offense. Titusville will take on Grove City on the road starting tonight at 7 p.m.. |                         |
For more photos from Rocket football 2025 please visit: sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p974268157
One more below ads, support local.
  |  |
RSS Feed