9-15-10 —  The Wayne County Cardinals met Rockcastle County on Friday night, September 3, in the Renfro Valley Bowl at Rocket Field. The Cards, 0-1, were coming off an open week, while Rockcastle County opened their season a week earlier with a 40-0 loss at Danville. The contest marked the 20th meeting between the two schools, with the Rockets owning a 15-4 series advantage, including a 34-0 decision at Jewell Field in 2009.

    Rockcastle County junior runningback Clarke Rowe rushed 16 times for 214 yards and 4 touchdowns, as the Rockets rolled to a 33-7 home win. Rowe scored on runs of 30, 14, 59, and 65 yards, as the winners used 55 plays to total 340 yards of offense and 9 first downs.

    "We played with some intensity in the first quarter, but after we made some mistakes, we just didn't play through them. We have to learn to play with intensity and focus, no matter the situation, so I was disappointed that we didn't respond any better," said head coach Shawn Thompson.

    Wayne County once again struggled to move the football and used 35 plays to master 100 yards of offense, with the only score coming on a Dustin Dodd 73 yard kickoff return.

    The Cards finished with more turnovers (5) than first downs (3) and rushed 24 times for just 21 yards.

    "We allowed Rock to control the line of scrimmage and just didn't take very good care of the football. Take nothing away from Rockcastle County, but this was a very disappointing effort on both sides of the ball. We didn't run, block or tackle very well," said Thompson.

    Rockcastle County opened the game with the football, but failed to gain a first down and was forced to punt on their opening two possessions.

    The Cards appeared ready to grab the lead on their second series of the night, as a Shawn Dishman keeper for 43 yards gave the visitors a first and goal from the 7 yard line. Two plays later John L. Saylor intercepted a Dishman attempt and it was all Rockcastle County the rest of the way.

    "We had all the momentum and held them without a first down most of the first quarter, but didn't finish off our drive. Defensively we allowed them to stay on the field and convert on a third down and 20 situation, both of those things happened within two minutes of each other. Give Rock credit, they made a couple of big plays and really raised their intensity," said Thompson.

    The Rockets used 8 plays to march 87 yards and score on a Clarke Rowe 30 yard touchdown run. The kick failed, leaving the score at 6-0, with 11:48 left in the second period.

    Rowe setup the game's next score with an interception return of 49 yards to the Wayne County 1 yard line. Four plays later Jadon Brock rumbled in from 1 yard out to push the score to 12-0, with 9:49 left in the first half.

    Wayne County's third turnover of the half, on a muffed punt, gave the Rockets the football at the Cardinal 30 yard line. Clarke Rowe used runs of 10 and 4 yards, which set up a 14 yard scoring run, at the 1:18 mark of the second stanza. John L. Saylor booted the extra-point, to push the lead to 19-0, which was the halftime score.

    "We have to value the football and not put our defense in some terrible spots in the first half," said Thompson.

    The second half featured three touchdowns in a minute, which means the other 23 minutes were filled with turnovers, punts and several empty possessions.

    Clarke Rowe opened the third quarter scoring with a 59 yard touchdown run and Chris Luna added the conversion run, to push the lead to 27-7 with 10 minutes left in the quarter.

    Wayne County answered with their only score of the night on the ensuing kickoff, as Dustin Dodd raced 73 yards to the end zone. Jr. Ruiz booted the point-after to close the gap to 27-7.

    The Rockets responded two plays later, as Rowe capped-off a huge night with a 65 yard touchdown run. The score pushed the lead to 33-7, with 9:23 left in the third period.

    "Rowe was a 2,000 yard rusher last season and is a big time play maker on both sides of the ball, but after a good start we just didn't tackle very well," said Thompson.

    The stats back that up as Clarke Rowe gained just 12 yards on his first 8 attempts, but totaled 202 yards on the final 8 touches of the night.

    "That's almost unbelievable to do such a nice job of swarming the ball in the first quarter and then just lose our focus. I know we have to improve in all areas if we want to beat McCreary Central," said Thompson.

    The Cards opened their home portion of the schedule on Friday night, against 0-2 McCreary Central. Details on the contest in a related story inside this edition of The Outlook.