The Thursday night lights were on once again during an All Hallows Eve district matchup as Blackman High School (9-1) clinched the 6A-3 two seed with a 35-7 win over Rockvale High School (4-6).
While senior night started off as the story of the night for Blackman, the Blaze defense stole the show. Forcing four turnovers, including two pick-sixes, the unit was suffocating all evening, not allowing Rockvale to get anything going offensively.
“Anytime you’re able to get four turnovers, you’re gonna win a football game,” Blackman head coach Matt Kriesky said. “Really proud of the defense and what they did and how they responded from last week. It was an outstanding job.”
After the first drive of the game was a three-and-out by Rockvale, the Blackman offense wasted no time finding the end zone on the first play of the game. Running back Jabari Kemp ran in a 70-yard score to give the Blaze a quick 7-0 lead.
Kemp would get in the end zone again to start the second quarter, capping off a long touchdown drive to open the period, putting the Blaze up 14.
After multiple stops by each team, Blackman muffed a punt, setting Rockvale up deep in Blaze territory.
With about half a minute left in the second, Rockets’ quarterback Jonathan Hamby found RC Chiha for a 46-yard touchdown, capitalizing on the turnover.
The 14-7 score didn’t last long, as Blackman’s James Stevenson returned the kickoff to the house, instantaneously getting back the points they just gave up.
With 16 seconds left before halftime, a deep pass by Hamby’s was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by senior defensive back Jaden Lark as time expired. The Blaze took a 28-7 lead into half, scoring twice in the last 40 seconds of the second quarter and gaining momentum that would carry them for the rest of the game.
“That was huge. It could’ve been a 14-7 game instead it was 28-7,” Blackman head coach Matt Kreisky said. “That was a huge course of events that sparked us and really gave us the win.”
With about four minutes left in the third, the scoring picked up again with yet another pick six for Blackman as Hamby’s screen pass was intercepted by Tristan Thornton and returned for a score.
On the next drive, the Blaze defense would force another turnover, forcing Hamby to fumble. Rockvale’s defense held strong and prevented a score resulting from the change of possession.
To end the quarter, Rockvale ran a fake punt and got the first down, but were unable to end the drive with points as Blackman’s defense found yet another stop. The Blaze would take a four-score lead into the fourth quarter, 35-7.
Blackman held on to their lead and won the game 35-7 and advanced to 9-1, clinching a second-place finish in the 6A-3 region, while cementing Rockvale’s place in fourth.
With the playoffs starting next week, Kriesky is telling his team they have to be ready to fight.
“Next week we’ve got to be ready… everybody’s 0-0 at this time and you can’t have one bad game moving forward,” Kriesky said.
Blackman is slated to host Gallatin High School (6-3) next week in the first round of the TSSAA 6A state playoffs.
To contact the sports editor, email [email protected].
Follow Sidelines on Facebook at Facebook.com/MTSUSidelines, on X @mtsusidelines and Instagram @mtsusidelines. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
