By: Austin Butler

The Rome Wolves competed in a very physical matchup with class 5A powerhouse Creekside Friday night in the Corky Kell Classic at Historic Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia. Although this was a non-region matchup, the Wolves would be put to the test early in their usual tough schedule. With a win, this shows the Wolves can build momentum early on before heading into region play almost mid-season.

With the Wolves being one of the top two teams in 6A in most rankings and Creekside being top two in the 5A rankings, this contest had high expectations written all over it for both programs. The first ever meeting between the two powerhouse programs did not disappoint.

Rome started the game with a kick off to Creekside. Creekside would go straight to the ground game testing the highly powered Rome defensive line. Early on it looked as if Rome’s defense was a bit lost between the first three carries by Creekside’s running game. Shortly after there would be nothing much going for the Creekside run game. Rome would force the Seminoles to a three and out.

Rome’s offense started off a bit slow due to the amount of pressure Creekside put on them by fundamental tackling and physicality. Rome is no stranger to being physical. Rome came right back after a three and out themselves and put the clamps on Creekside’s offense by shutting every handoff coming their way.

The Rome secondary was excellent by batting down many passes that could have easily resulted in big gains or touchdowns. Vandy commit and Rome DB, Martel Hight added another interception to his career stats. It was very difficult to get a pass off for Creekside Quarterback, Vinson Berry. All night long, Rome’s defensive tackle and Clemson commit Stephiylan Green was introducing himself to anyone who had possession of the ball. Being dominant alongside Green was defensive lineman Justin Terrell and Tyson Brown among others from the defensive line. Tyson Brown had a sense of smell for the football the entire night busting through the line for 6.5 tackles and 3.0 TFL. Stephiylan Green added to the mix with 5.0 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss while causing a safety early on to put Rome up 9-0.

The Wolves linebacker core was absolutely daunting for Creekside’s offense with Rome linebacker Alto Moore having a monster night with 10.0 total tackles and 2.0 TFL. Although those numbers look as if Moore did all of the tackling by himself, his fellow linebackers had quite great games themselves. Linebacker Grant Bullard played outstanding by being around the ball every chance he was handed. Bullard finished his night with 4.5 tackles and 1.0 TFL. Rome linebacker Darius Smith added an interception for the defense. A number of players on the Rome defense had monster games against a powerful Creekside team.

The Rome offense wasn’t as explosive as many expected it to be. An offense who has plenty of options to choose from wasn’t able to find the end zone as much as it would like. However, the offense made plays when it needed to the most. You don’t really have to put up 45 points in order to be a good offense. You just need to make plays when they are needed the most. When a defense like Rome’s puts their offense in great position every possession it’s critical to be able to punch it in the end zone when needed. Rome did exactly that.

The numbers were far from flashy for the Wolves offense. Rome quarterback Reece Fountain passed for 113 yards and 0 touchdowns. The leading receiver for Rome was DeKaylon Daniel with 5 catches and 52 receiving yards. However, Rome managed to put 16 points on the board while holding the Seminoles to only 6 points which came late in the game. 14 of those 16 points came on the ground for the Wolves with Rome running-backs Chance Arthur scoring an untouched 1 yard touchdown run and Javarius McDearmont scoring a tough 2 yard touchdown run. The Wolves continued to make their stand defensively in a statewide televised Corky Kell Classic game and eventually would walk away victorious.

To much of Wolf Nation this was a sigh of relief to walk away with a win against one of the toughest teams in the state in any classification. This might just be the toughest defense Rome will see in the regular season. Rome has a stout schedule ahead, but this was certainly a good starting point facing forward into the coming weeks.

Rome Linebacker Alto Moore is the player of the week with 10 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 TFL.

Rome will remain at home next week as they will host class 5A Lithonia Bulldogs. Lithonia lost Friday night 37-6 against Alcovy. However, the Wolves cannot look ahead. Each team will be looking to knock off Rome any chance they have.

Kick off time will be Friday at 7:30pm at Historic Barron stadium in Rome, Georgia.