“I always tell them, when they PR that is the fastest they ever ran on the planet in their life. That’s a neat thing. You just can’t ask for much more if that's the fastest they can run at this point in the season.”

But they’ll still talk over strategy and finishing strong as they find themselves now 0-2 in the region.

On the girls side Anna Mehlenbacher kept Franklin’s Nadalie Latchaw in her sights the whole way, finishing only 25 seconds back from the perennial state qualifier.
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The Rocket girls easily won the team event 20-41 with Mehlenbacher, Sophie Sampson, Emma Wright, Madeline Johnson, Bella Ongly and Mackenzie Covell coming in second through seventh-place. Carly Fry also ran very well coming in eighth.

The Lady Rocket's are now 2-0 in the region with a tough challenge ahead against Oil City for the title on October 10 in Oil City.
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“Anna ran hard again today. She also had a great race over the weekend (in Hershey) She is really starting to lead our pack, Covell said of his junior. He also complimented Carly Fry’s run. 
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“She ran exceptionally well again today, she’s done well all season for us.”

He thinks the girls have a chance at the region title but acknowledges Oil City is a very good team.
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“It should be a really good race, if Oil City runs what they can run, and we run what we can run - it's going to be a good race.”

Over the weekend the team ran on the state course in Hershey.

“We had a good trip to Foundation with a lot of good team bonding.”

Both the girls and boys will compete in the Cochranton Invitational today.

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A shift in momentum can change a game in a heartbeat. 

Titusville was down 20-6 at the start of the second half but  the ball around midfield with momentum. They decided to take a shot. Jaxon Covell started sprinting down the right side of the field as quarterback Ian McDonald dropped back to pass.

Coveell had some daylight and began anglingg away from the Meadville defender who were closing on him as McDonald's pass sailed through the air.

Had the ball been thrown to the outside shoulder it was six points and a huge momentum shift. But Meadville's Ryan Reichel ​jumped in front and went sky high to bring down the interception. What was looking like the Rockets coming out firing was suddenly squashed and they were back trying to stop the Bulldogs from moving the ball.
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"We had a situation and we called a play. We just went for it and it didn’t work out our way. I’ll never fault kids for aggressively going after something. We could’ve called something else," Coach Mike Reynolds said.

He knows the Rocket's performance Thursday night could've had a much different outcome if just a few things went right instead of wrong

Another play early in the contest could've given them early momentum, instead it gave it to Meadville.

Titusville appeared to have stripped the ball out of the hands of a Bulldog runner, but they did not get the call. The refs either weren't in the right position to see the ball stripped, or they determined the runner was down. Either way Meadville kept possession and the Rockets stayed on defense. It was a big call because Meadville scored eventually on the drive putting the Rockets in a position of fighting from behind.
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Reynolds didn’t lament, he looked for the positives in the 33-6 loss to the 3-1 Bulldogs.
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“If you look at our defensive line, we played in Meadville’s backfield on numerous plays, we had balls that we stripped. We did multiple things that a couple weeks ago we didn’t do,” he said.

Other than the giving up over 70 points to Sharpsville, it has been  the little things that have kept the Rockets from being 3-1 instead of 1-3.
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Thursday night was a prime example. The Rockets were just inches away from good luck going their way. They got the ball first and couldn’t move it at all. This resulted in a punt and Meadville moving down for the score after eating up much of the first quarter. They the Dawgs had two penalties in a row on successful extra point attempts forcing them to try for a long two-point conversion. On the pass a Titusville sender got fingertips on the ball but not enough to knock it away.

Instead of six or seven to zero, it was 8-0.

But Rockets bounced right back taking the ball 65-yards down the field themselves setting up an Ian McDonald score.

The Rockets failed to convert, keeping the score at 8-6.

That’s as close as the Rocket's would get all night. 
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Despite the defense getting more than one turnover, they couldn’t convert those into points.
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“The enjoyment is obviously in the winning, but there are just a lot of good things these kids are doing,” Reynolds said. “These are really good kids, they’re communicating with us, they are very much in the game … and they are understanding what is going on and they want to contribute in a positive way."

There is no question their schedule has been difficult thus far. Other than Franklin they have faced playoff caliber teams. 
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But they now enter a stretch of games where they should be able to test their skills and potentially build on momentum the rest of the way.

Though they’ll have to kick it into gear on the road for three straight weeks, they are facing teams that can be beat in the next four games. 
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They travel to Seneca next week to face the 0-3 Bobcats,

They then head to Linesville to face Conneaut, who has only beaten Seneca.

Then they head up 408 to face Maplewood who has only scored 19-points this season. 
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They return home against Warren, who is also without a win to this point, have give up 185 points and only scored 13. 

They have potential of going into the Oil City contest at 5-3 on the season,.

It has been a tough week to think about the X's and O's of football, never mind W's.

Karns City player Mason Martin's injury is a sobering reminder that there is a brutal and violent side of football. Mason still has not awoken and prayer requests continue to flood social media.

What happened to Mason was made even more harrowing this past Friday night as the Oil City football team remained on the field playing a non-region game against North East while their teammate Hayden Wilson was in a medical helicopter lifting off from the neighboring baseball field on his way to Pittsburgh's Children's hospital.

The game continued though everyone on the team's heart was focussed on Hayden.

Up the road in Titusville, the Rockets' game was over and during the coach interview and clearing of the field, Andrew McQuown  went to his knees and then face planted on the turf in obvious discomfort.
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A team of coaches and medical folks surrounded him.

Fortunately for Hayden and Andrew their prognosis isn't as dire as Mason's. But to those watching these unfold, nerves are tattered.

Titusville had to kick off to LeBoeuf to start the second half. 

They got a stop and aided by a muffed snap on a field goal attempt they got out of the drive unscathed. But they Bison ate up more than eight minutes.

The Rockets' were not in a hurry. Down two scored plus needing a two-point conversion they hoped to mount a drive similar to their first possession of the game.
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After two plays it wasn't looking good. Two runs resulted in a loss of yardage from the original line of scrimmage.

A fan yelled from the crowd something about the running game not working. 

The play had already been called to have Ian McDonald, the Rocket QB set back to pass. When the pocket crumbled he put the ball under his arm and began juking and jiving until he found a little daylight. 

His scamper garnered enough turf to move the chains. A personal foul at the end of the play added a bonus 15-yards. They seemed to be in business as the third quarter winded down.

Unfortunately the momentum was short-lived when the offense imploded. Two penalties in a row set them back and now the drive resembled Sisyphus getting close to the peak only to have the it all roll backwards. 

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