Holding onto a 27-26 lead against county rival C.B, Aycock, Rosewood had to stop the Golden Falcons’ two-point conversion attempt to preserve the win.
Before the snap, Rosewood head coach Robert Britt asked the sideline judge for a timeout.
Britt then talked the situation over with his defense.
“We were sending house. We weren’t playing for another offensive series, and they weren’t either, so we knew the ballgame was going to come down to that series,” Britt said. “We knew they were going for two, so we tried to have somebody in every gap.”
Sure enough, the Eagles stuffed C.B. Aycock at the goal line.
Rosewood’s goal-line stand put the finishing touches on Rosewood’s come-from-behind, 27-26 victory over the Golden Falcons at Hardy Talton Stadium on Monday evening.
The win snaps the Eagles’ 13-game losing streak against C.B. Aycock and marks Rosewood’s first win in The Little Rivalry since 1999.
“It’s been 20 plus years since we beat them (C.B. Aycock). It’s the first time I beat them since I became the head football coach at Rosewood,” Britt said. “They’re a quality football team, so for our small team to compete like they did and to come back talks about the heart that our kids played with.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our players.”
The game did not start off well for the Eagles.
Two plays into their opening drive, the Eagles fumbled, and C.B. Aycock’s David Reid ran nine yards to the house on the first play of the Golden Falcon’s drive, and less than two minutes into the ballgame, C.B. Aycock led 7-0.
After a Rosewood punt, C.B. Aycock began its second drive at Rosewood’s 33-yard line.
The Golden Falcons marched down the field, and on the 10th play of the drive, Ethan Brock connected with Tyler Horton for a 25-yard touchdown pass to give the Golden Falcons a 14-0.
“We were getting up to game speed against a very good football team. It’s hard in practice to match what you’re going to see on Friday night,” Britt said. “We made some mistakes, but after them coming out on jumping on us, I think our kids kind of settled in.
“We kept telling them that it’s a four-quarter ballgame.”
With four minutes left in the first quarter, the Rosewood offense started to get going.
Rosewood quarterback Rocco Raper orchestrated a seven-play 60-yard drive that Micah Cox capped off by hauling in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Raper to cut the Golden Falcons’ lead down to 14-6.
However, the Golden Falcons would go back up by two possessions midway through the second quarter when Daniel Frederick burst off a 34-yard gallop to the endzone.
Rosewood punted on its next possession, but a Golden Falcons’ turnover gave the Eagles the ball back at C.B. Aycock’s 35-yard line.
Five plays later, David Lamm made it a 20-12 ball game with a nine-yard touchdown run.
“We’ve got some running back that run the ball really hard,” Britt said.
The Eagles started to take control of the game in the second half.
A safety on C.B. Aycock’s opening possession of the third quarter cut the Golden Falcons’ lead down to 20-14.
On the ensuing drive, Lamm gave Rosewood a 21-20 lead with a 27-yard scamper to paydirt.
Thanks to Lamm’s third touchdown of the game, the Eagles would increase their lead to 27-20 late in the fourth quarter.
“Our offensive line really started gelling as the game went on, and we felt like we found something that we could exploit,” Britt said.
With only three minutes left in the game, the Golden Falcons embarked on a nine-play 66-yard drive, and on a fourth down with 16 seconds left, Brock connected with Demario Prince to make it a one-point ballgame.
The Golden Falcons elected to go for the win, but the Eagles’ defense stopped Reid short of the goal line, which sealed the win for the Eagles.
“I just think it was a total team effort with unbelievable determination from a young team that wanted to win a ballgame,” Britt said.
Rosewood (1-0 overall) entertains North Johnston, while C.B. Aycock (0-1) hosts Eastern Wayne (1-0). Both games are set for Friday, with kickoff at 7 p.m.
