The Sundown Roughnecks football team steamrolled the Plains Cowboys, 35-7, this past Friday night at home, improving to 3-4 overall and 2-0 in district play this season.
The Roughnecks handled business from start to finish to earn the win, which is something Head Coach Brannon Rodgers doesn’t take for granted.
“Well, we’re always happy to have a district win, it means a lot,” Coach Rodgers said. “You never want to downplay a district game. Those are big and we want to cherish those district wins because they’ll stack up into hopefully something special. When you win a district game, the next game ramps up.”
A big part of the district win was the Roughnecks defense that forced four turnovers and only allowed 156 yards of total offense on the night.
They also erased Plains’ rushing attack, holding them to 1.9 yards a carry on 21 rushes.
The Cowboys had no answer for the Sundown defense all night as the lone touchdown that Plains scored was during garbage time late in the fourth quarter.
“We had great defense in the first half and in the second half we played solid too. I was very pleased with that,” Coach Rodgers said. “Coach Kirk does a good job preparing the defense every week. Plains has some weapons that are scary, they throw the ball and have some dangerous things they do, so we did a good job on that.”
Coach Rodgers noted that he challenged his secondary to step up and they did as junior Gordon Mata and senior Coen Nevarez both had interceptions in the game.
Also getting in on the turnover action was senior Braiden Lara and junior Brayden Longoria, who both recovered fumbles.
Although the night was highlighted by the defense, the Roughnecks offense was still good too with 280 total offensive yards and five total touchdowns.
The rushing attack was where Sundown found their success as they scored all five touchdowns on the ground and rushed for 151 yards in total.
Junior running back Jeremiah Reyes led the team in rushing with 77 yards on 16 carries, also rushing for a touchdown.
Cooper Day also rushed for two touchdowns, along with Coen Nevarez and sophomore quarterback Marco Landa who both rushed for a touchdown.
Landa also threw for 129 yards, completing 10/14 passes to five different receivers.
Sundown’s two top receivers were Coen Nevarez with four catches for 47 yards and senior Nathan McAdams with two catches for 36 yards.
Several players put together great offensive performances, but Coach Rodgers wants to see his offense improve as a unit. “We had a lot of sloppy mistakes that we have to go fix and that’s what film is for,” Coach Rodgers said. “We’re ready to get back to work, watching film and seeing where we made those mistakes. So, execution on offense is something that we’ve got to improve before next week.”
They’ll look to make those tweaks offensively before their biggest game to this point of the season against the Ropes Eagles.
Ropes is 6-1 this season and 2-0 in district play, meaning the implications of this matchup cannot be overstated as the winner will likely be the 2A-2 District 3 Champion.
The Roughnecks have won two straight, and the Eagles have won five straight, so both these teams are coming in hot.
The game is at 7 p.m. this Friday at the Ropes Eagle Stadium, come out and watch if you want to see two really good football teams play.