Rosewood defense prevents Devilpups from running loose

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on September 12, 2014 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

aetzler@newsargus.com

Lejeune's wishbone offensive focuses running the ball up the middle of the opposing defense.

But on Thursday evening, the Rosewood defensive line challenged themselves to not allow the Devilpups to get to the second level of the defense. Kaleb Taylor and company on the Eagles' front five barely let the visitors gain a yard during a 41-6 trouncing at Branch Pope Field.

Taylor finished the game with 11 tackles, five for a loss, one sack and a forced fumble. But he passed most of the credit on to his teammates.

"Got big Tyree (Chavious) there in the middle so a lot of teams need to put two guys on him and Garrett (Tyndall) does a good job flying around so I kind of just get to roam free," Taylor said.

The Eagles' first-team defense held the Devilpups to minus-13 yards and forced eight turnovers during three-plus quarters of action. Rosewood allowed just one play to go for more than 15 yards -- a 26-yard score from Tyree Hamilton after the game was out of reach.

Meanwhile, the Eagles' improving offense had eight plays go for 15 yards or more.

Led by running back Mike Woodard, Rosewood has grown each week in its new spread zone read offense. It ran a potent up-tempo offense against that often left the Lejeune defense confused and scrambling to get into its formation before the snap.

Woodard finished with a season-high 213 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns. He displayed good vision on his second touchdown -- a 52-yard run in which he started off the tackle, then ran toward the middle to pick up a block before cutting it back outside and getting down the sideline for a score.

"We've been working a lot at being able to dictate the pace of the game and tonight we did that pretty well, that's probably where our biggest improvement has come," Rosewood coach Robert Britt said.

Quarterback Cameron Helt also proved that if a defense cheats up, he can find his wideouts deep down the field. In recent weeks, his target for big plays had been Quan Joyner, but against Lejeune, the big play came on a 48-yard touchdown pass to Marquail Almontaser.

"We're obviously a running team," Britt said. "But it feels good knowing that we have a couple guys on the outside with speed and good hands that if we need to we can beat someone over the top."

Rosewood snapped a three-game losing streak.

"The first win feels good," Woodard said. "We've been working hard and we knew it would come eventually."