ELMA – Cody Vollan came through with big plays on the ground and through the air as the Eagles soared past the Rockets, 47-21, Friday night at Davis Field.
Elma (4-0 overall) didn’t get off to the start they were hoping for as Castle Rock’s Wyatt Partridge broke off a 78-yard run on their first offensive snap of the game to give the Rockets an early 7-0 lead.
“Quite frankly, that had to happen. I should kiss the Castle Rock coaches for doing that,” said Elma head coach Ron Clark, acknowleding that he fine with his team being tested so early in the game. “We needed to get punched in the face. Every game (this season) we go out there and stop (our opponents) and then score, but thats not football. Someone has to fight back.”
Elma’s offense found some rhythm on their second drive as the Eagles took the ball downfield and capped things off with a 12-yard touchdown run from Carter Jacobson to tie the game with 7:14 left in the first quarter.
Vollan got in on the act himself on the following possession when he scrambled 20 yards for a touchdown with 2:02 remaining in the first quarter to give his team a 14-7 lead.
The offensive unit started to turn up the pressure on Castle Rock (1-3) in the second quarter, starting with a 14-yard pass to Richardson at the 10:43 mark. Vollan then capped off a long drive with a 2-yard quarterback sneak to push the score to 28-7.
Vollan ended the game with 188 yards through the air and two passing touchdowns. He also added another 94 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Taitum Brumfield also gave Castle Rock trouble as he went for 157 rushing yards on 27 carries.
The Eagles passing game came up big when running its two-minute offense as Vollan showed off his arm strength and hit Carter Jacobson with a pass about 30 yards downfield. After initially bobbling the rain-dampened ball, Jacobson secured the pass and ran another 30 yards after the catch for a touchdown to extend Elma’s lead to 34-7.
A big kick off return allowed Castle Rock to set up with a short field with 1:30 left. The Rockets eventually got in the end zone to make it 34-14 at the half.
Clark was more pleased with the way his defense responded after an inconsistent first quarter and is hoping to clean up some of those miscues next week.
“We have to play more sound defensively and make sure we don’t get out of our responsibilities,” he said. “We have to make sure we don’t let the quarterback get free and keep our edge pressure. We have top keep him in the pocket.”
The defense appeared to be on its way to correcting some of those mistakes in the second half and shutout the Castle Rock offense for the remainder of the game.
The Rockets would add a touchdown on a fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter with the game already out of reach.
Tatium Bumfield and Brody Rustemeyer each scored on short touchdown runs late in the game to close out the contest.
The Eagles racked up an impressive 589 total yards of offense, 401 of those coming by way of their rusing attack.
Elma will try to keep its perfect record intact when they face RA Long on Thursday. Clark isn’t too worried about his team getting prepared for its next game on a short week.
“They’ll be ready. They’re probably glad they don’t have to practice as long this week,” he joked.
Castle Rock 7 7 0 7 — 21
Elma 14 20 0 13 — 47
Leading Rusher: Elma — Brumfield (27-157 , TD), Vollan (10-94, 2 TD)
Leading Passer: Elma — Vollan (8-10, 188, 2 TD)
Leading tackler: Elma — Isaiah O’Farril: 5 tkl., 8 asst.)
Elma’s Carter Jacobson (29) celebrates with Tysen Richardson after Richardson caught a touchdown pass in the second quarter against Castle Rock on Friday. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
