September 7, 2002 12:43 AM
Rocky rolls over
WestinghouseBy Mark Nesseler, Dispatch/Argus Sports
editor
To prepare for football in the Western Big 6, a premium is going to be on practices for
the Rock Island Rocks.
In Rock Island's 49-6 romp over Chicago Westinghouse Friday night at Rock Island's
Almquist Field, the Rocks' first-stringers were more spectators than participants.
Building up a 37-0 score five plays into the second quarter, the Rocky starters were given
the the rest of the night off.
And it could be more of the same next week, with the 2-0 Rocks again hosting another
Chicago Public League team, Collins. After that, it's the start of a five-week conference
grind.
``Our practices are going to be critical this year,'' said RI coach Vic Boblett,
``because of the way things are falling. We can't afford to have one quarter of work for
our No. 1s when we get to the big games. When they've got to go four quarters, they've got
to condition themselves for those kinds of games.
``One quarter of work doesn't prepare us for what lies ahead. We're going to have to
make up for missed time.''
Rocky's offense and defense will get a tougher challenge against each other in practice
than the Warriors gave them Friday. The Rocks scored easily on their first four
possessions -- a Dillon Smith 4-yard run, 3 plays, 1:02; two Brandin Smith TD catches, 2
plays in :33 and 3 plays in :56; and a Waylond Ryan 15-yarder, 3 plays, 1:08.
``Our first string played with a lot of intensity in the first quarter,'' said Boblett.
``I think they realized they may not get to play a long time.''
The Rocks played out the string with the second- and third-string. They didn't make it
to the 40-point, nonstop clock until :54 was left in the third quarter, when third-string
quarterback Brad Spence bootlegged for a 20-yard TD.
In the fourth quarter, RI kicker Jason Reda added a 38-yard field goal, clearing the
goal posts by a good 15 yards.
``I'm always happy for the opportunities for playing time for all of the kids,'' said
Boblett.
On the down side, RI's coach surely wasn't pleased with six fumbles, two of those
recovered by Westinghouse, and nine penalties for 75 yards.
Calvin Krakilow led the Rocks with 97 yards rushing on 11 carries. He topped the
100-yard mark on his ninth carry, but lost five yards on his last two tries.
The Rocks' defense yielded little. Westinghouse ended with minus-24 yards on 20
carries, saddled with a trio of sacks -- by Chris Tuttle, Daniel Payne and Nick Davis --
that accounted for 42 negative yards.
No coaster for RI sophs: Likely anticipating a romp as well, the RI sophs
dressed 30 freshmen, identifiable by their white, instead of yellow, pants. The white
pants, though, stayed on the sideline for all but the final couple of minutes, as the RI
sophs barely got by, 13-0. Scoring TDs for RI were Zachary Simpson and Alex Stickel, with
freshman Adam Schneider adding an extra-point kick.
Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch
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