| American Legion Post 368 commander Frank Nottingham joined the Titusville Rocket’s out at midfield for the national anthem. The Rockets were honoring our area veterans and first responders throughout their game against the undefeated Grove City Eagles. The military theme continued into the game as general (coach) Mike Reynolds and his command staff sent their army of young men out onto the battlefield to take care of business. And boy did they. The Rocket offensive strikes were smashmouth and precise as they dominated right from the start in their 36-7 rain soaked and electrifying (literally) win at home. The Rockets took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march 65 yards down the field, taking less than four minutes to score their first touchdown on an Ian McDonald 1-yard run and Max Chatham extra point to go up 7-0. McDonald carried most of the weight of that drive gaining 40 yards and punching it in over the line. The Rockets defense was also primed to hold the line and prevent the Eagles from taking over too much territory. After a stop, Titusville again marched right back down to the Grove City 22-yard line, poised for another strike and capture more territory when the first of two lightning delays stopped action for about an hour. The PIAA officials must stop games for at least 30 minutes when lightning is visible. At 8:21 p.m.play resumed. At 8:23p.m. they were back in the end zone on a four-yard run.A fake kick had McDonald scrambling around when he saw an opening where he could dive his way in to the end-zone to put the Rockets up 15-0. Grove City was moving the ball at the beginning of the second quarter when Brody Sellen picked off a pass setting up Titusville’s third possession at their own 20. Covell found the end-zone two plays later with a 72 yard run. Chatham again split the uprights to take the Rockets to 22-0. Grove City looked like they had some life in them when they took the kickoff and ran a reverse play to start their drive at midfield. It shifted momentum in their favor and they again moved the ball. A controversial call that resulted in a Grove City catch helped them remain in possession and a few plays later they scored their first and only touchdown of the game. WhenTitusville got the ball back on their own 25 with 5:50 remaining they would counter-strike and move the ball back down the field. By this time the skies opened up dumping gallon of water on the field. The stands emptied fast. Not deterred, the Rockets methodically marched down the field and scored on a 17-yard Covell run with 4-seconds remaining to take the Rockets into half leading 29-7. Lightning was back and it caused a second delay at the start of the second half. When play resumed, not much was mustered by either squad until lake in the game Grove City caught a break recovering a muffed punt snap deep in Titusville’s territory. But they failed to capitalize giving the ball back to the Rockets. A couple more Covell break-away runs found number 22 crossing the goal line for the fourth time on a 35-yard run to give theRockets the 36-7 win. According to Titusville stat sheets Covell ran for 265 yards on 26 carries. Titusville had 346 yards in total offense and JJ Miller led the defense with 12 tackles. The Rockets will face Conneaut Area next Friday night at home. CASH is 2-1 like the Rockets. Their only loss was last night to Hickory 63-6. But they opened the year with a 61-0 win over Warren and followed that with a 33-21 victory over Iroquois. The game is scheduled to go off at 7 p.m. |              |
RSS Feed