Colts battle until the end with #8 ranked Rockmart
Coahulla Creek played a long, hard ball game against the Jackets Friday night. They showed grit, dedication, and determination through all four quarters of the game despite what the scoreboard shows. Head Coach Drew Carter and the players held their heads high even after the 35-7 loss against Rockmart High. “I was really proud of our fight,” Carter explains, “we knew what they are, and that they’re a really talented team with a lot of success.” Carter claims Rockmart was a challenge they knew about early on, but was proud of the fight they put up against them even if the score was not as close as they wanted.
The offense had a tough time against the Jackets defense when trying to move downfield, but Waelyn Baliles had another great rushing game with 65 yards, and went 22 yards for passing. Baliles also had the solo touchdown for the Colts this game with 28 seconds left of the 4th. “It was their fight all the way to the end,” says Carter, “ we continued to execute the best we could.” The struggle, according to Carter, came from the defenses’ physicality and their ability to get in the offense’s faces, hindering the throwing game from Baliles and his team. Highlights in the passing game included TE Jackson Lowery and FB Brody Howell each making a catch. Through it all, the Jackets’ handsy defense only made Baliles and his offense fight harder for a spot in the endzone, and by the end of the game it paid off with the 4th quarter touchdown for the Colts. Brett Pause made his second PAT of the season Friday night, and it will not be the last.
“We would have loved to have some more offensive production, but we just weren’t able to get it done,” states Carter.
Defensively the team was very opportunistic, forcing Rockmart into 2 interceptions. Besides a few missed tackles the defense held Rockmart well in Coach Carter’s eyes. He was proud of how they “flew around” on the turf, and made the tackles to prevent the Jackets from advancing. The Colts’ defense allowed 4 touchdowns in the first half, but retaliated with an interception by Christ Ewart as the buzzer sounded to end the half. Chevy Joyce had a great game with 7 tackles, including 1 sack. As Coach Carter has said, the guys did not lose their fight at any point during the game, and went into the second half as a wall, allowing only one touchdown.
Elijah Faraji was the leading tackler against the Jackets with 11 tackles and the thief of the football, stealing the ball mid-air from Rockmart to make the second interception of the game during the fourth quarter. One of the tackles was a team-effort with Wyatt Mann and Brandon Manis in order to bring the runner down, their grit showed through when they did not let-up until the guy was on the ground. “The scoreboard doesn’t show it,” but the Colts were physical and Carter saw a battling performance from the defense against a strong, durable offense on Friday.
Going into a bye week, the Colts are looking to get healthy, as many players were out this week due to injury. Health and building momentum towards their matchup against LFO in the coming week are the top priorities.
The Colts will kickoff against LFO on October 4th at 7:30pm. This is Coahulla Creek’s homecoming game, so come out and support the Colts and enjoy all the homecoming festivities that will be taking place starting next week. The princesses and Queen will be announced at halftime!
Article written by Ava Howell