ROCKVILLE — It might be time to correct a misconception about Rockville High School football that seems to exist widely — everywhere, perhaps, except among the young men who gather daily before school in the school’s weight room.
With record-setting quarterback Matt King among the many seniors who graduated from the Rockville program a year ago — after winning 26 of 28 games the previous two seasons, including a trip to the 2007 state championship game — there’s a school of thought that this year’s 8-3 season is some kind of pleasant surprise.
Not so, several Rockville players indicated this week.
The surprises they’ve had this season, in fact, haven’t been pleasant ones at all.
“My goal,” four-year starting tackle Cody Stout said this week, “was to go undefeated and win the state title.”
“We lost a lot of skill players — Matt [King], Aaron [Bridge], two or three other receivers,” said offensive lineman-linebacker James Kent, “but not many realized we had our whole line back.
“Outside the locker room, people thought we might be a .500 team,” Kent added. “But we knew we had strength and would be ready to go.”
“We have people that just work hard in this class, Cody and James especially,” said fullback/linebacker Tophel Secuskie. “We just try to set a good example. We can’t make up for what Matt did, but with hard work, we can be just as good.”
“We felt we could play up to our standards,” added guard/defensive tackle Nick Wheeler. “That last class was just good … but we think we’re stronger, more dedicated in the weight room and have more leadership.”
The doubters “gave us motivation for the season,” said tackle Levi Berry.
The Rox who spoke to the Tribune-Star this week aren’t angry about their situation. Since four are linemen — and Secuskie would be the first to agree he’s not a glamor player either — they even understand the situation.
“We were kind of buried in the Matt King era,” Stout said with a smile. “The Class of ‘09 was real strong, be we came out and played better than people thought we would.”
Coach Herb King — Matt’s father, incidentally — hasn’t been surprised either.
“We said when the season started we might lose a game or two,” the coach said this week, “but we’d gel really well around playoff time.
“This has been the best group we’ve had in the weight room,” King continued. “[This senior class] turned around the program with work and dedication. They are the strongest group I’ve had, individually and as a group … we didn’t anticipate the injuries, though.”
Rockville lost Caleb McMullen, its leading returning rusher, to an early knee injury. Tyler Bradburn, another skilled runner, missed more than a month because of appendicitis. And David Coleman, the team’s senior quarterback, was lost for the year after breaking his leg in the first quarter of the regular-season finale against Fountain Central.
But the Rox have been undeterred. They go into tonight’s rematch at Fountain Central for the championship of Class A Sectional 39 playing their best football of the season.
“We finally found the way for the parts to come together as a team,” said Berry this week. “We all know what’s really important — to get that sectional championship.”
“We knew we could make a pretty good push in the postseason,” added Kent. “Now we’re finally starting to click together; we’re one unit now.”
“We know we have some work to do, because Fountain Central is a good team,” said Wheeler, “but hopefully things will happen [tonight] the way we want them to.”
“I think we improved a lot last week [in a 41-0 win at North Vermillion], and if we keep doing that we can do good,” Secuskie said.
“We haven’t accomplished what we want to — yet. But if we keep working hard, we can still do some of the things we wanted to do.”
• Tonight’s games — Both Rockville and Linton play for sectional championships tonight in rematches of conference games the Rox and Miners lost at home.
Rockville lost 14-7 to No. 3 Fountain Central — undefeated and the highest-ranked team remaining in the south half of the Class A tournament — in the final game of the regular season.
That was the game, as mentioned, in which Coleman was lost to the Rox early. That wasn’t his team’s only problem that night, coach Herb King of Rockville said this week.
“[The Mustangs] are extremely quick — everywhere,” King said. “But we had a couple of breakdowns defensively and literally gave them two touchdowns.”
Linton played fifth-ranked North Daviess at home on Sept. 25 and lost 34-6. But in some ways that was a different Linton team than the Cougars will face tonight.
The following week the Miners also lost 15-7 at North Knox, a game that prompted coach Steve Weber to revamp his offensive scheme.
Linton hasn’t lost since, including a 44-0 thrashing of that same North Knox team last Friday. The Miners also put 68 points on the board at Tecumseh in the sectional opener, while the North Daviess tournament wins have been 64-0 over Wood Memorial and 14-7 over fourth-ranked Perry Central last week.
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