FOOTBALL: Rosewood at Hobbton capsule

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 22, 2016 10:00 AM

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Rosewood (2-3)

at Hobbton (1-4)

Last week: Rosewood topped South Lenoir 53-52 in overtime; Hobbton lost to Wake Christian 37-21.

Last meeting: 2015, Rosewood won 27-14 at Branch Pope Field.

Notable: It's the Carolina 1-A Conference opener for both teams. The Eagles have won the previous three meetings in the series, but the Wildcats hold a 21-9 edge overall.

Coach, you start a new season this week. What did you tell the guys at practice on Monday? "We told them we were able to finish the non-conference (season) strong," RHS head coach Robert Britt said. "We're starting to get better. Last week, one of the things we told them we wanted them to do was create some more explosive plays. We were able to do that against South Lenoir (and) we just need to keep moving forward. We've got to continue to get better every day, and work on the things that we've got to get better at, but not go backwards."

What's been the difference in your offense recently? "The biggest thing is our young linemen have gotten some varsity games under their belt. Tronqull Blue has rushed for over 300 yards the last two games. He's starting to understand where the linemen are running plays, hitting the hole hard. With Tron and the offensive line getting better, and other teams realizing they need to know where No. 8 (quarterback Cam Helt) is all the time, I think that's the biggest thing."

What's your scouting report on Hobbton? "They've got some athletes in the backfield. They look like they might be young up front. One thing that's been our Achilles heel is letting an athlete get out in space, and make plays. One thing we've got to do is make sure we keep them contained."

Does Hobbton look like a team that's seeking an identity? "They've played some really good teams in the non-conference (season), too. I'm sure they're telling their kids going into conference they're going to start playing teams that are more their size. They're playing at home and are going to have some confidence. I think they're still trying to figure out what type of team they're going to be and how to get their athletes the ball. That, in itself, is a little bit dangerous. You prepare for what you see on film, but a team's that still trying to figure things out might come out Friday and do something totally differently that you're not prepared to see.

This is a big game for your team, part of a brutal start to your conference season with James Kenan (east 1-AA runner-up in 2015) and Lakewood (Carolina 1-A co-champ in 2015) coming up on the schedule after Hobbton. "One thing that our kids rely on because we play such a tough non-conference schedule with Aycock being very good this year, Midway is always good and North Johnston is very good this year, so I think our kids are going to feel like they're battle tested. If we can win this game Friday night, it's going to give us confidence going into the rest of conference play."

What's the intangible that could factor into the outcome on Friday night? "We're still trying to figure some things out ourselves on the defensive side. We're scoring some points, but we're even younger on the defensive side. We can't give the other team more opportunities to score than what they deserve. We've got to protect the ball on offense. Turnovers will be critical for both teams."