By Phil Keren

Correspondent

While the final outcome wasn’t what he and his team hoped for, Kent Roosevelt head coach Kardell Jackson said his squad played their best game of the season in a hard-fought 14-13 loss to Norton Friday evening.

“We played a heck of a football game and so did Norton,” Jackson said. “That was the best football game we’ve played all year…We talk about start to finish. It was awesome. (I) can’t be more proud of our guys. None of those guys are hanging their heads. We talked about fighting together, playing together and we did that tonight. So I’m extremely proud of those guys, regardless of the result.”

It was a tale of two halves.

In the first half, Roosevelt (4-4) combined passing and running plays to move effectively and control the tempo of the game.

In the second half, when the Rough Riders’ offense struggled to find their rhythm, the defense carried the load with a pair of fourth-down stops (one in the red zone) and two interceptions.

A strong defensive stand led to Roosevelt’s final drive that set up a 42-yard field-goal attempt that was missed with 55 seconds remaining.

Jackson tipped his hat to Norton (7-1) for the effort they displayed in response to the challenge from Roosevelt.

“Norton did a great job of rallying and responding to adversity, too,” he said. “(It’s) real fun to play football games against good football teams like that.”

The Rough Riders seized the momentum right out of the gate.

On the opening possession, Roosevelt drove 65 yards in seven plays and took a 6-0 lead when junior running back Makhi Jones scored on a 10-yard cutback run. During that scoring march, junior quarterback Kingston Bryant completed all five of his passes for 44 yards to three different receivers.

The biggest play was a 16-yard completion to senior wide receiver Sevyn Jones on a crossing route.

“We talked about (how) we got to start hot and not shoot ourselves in the foot, and we did that on the first drive,” Jackson said. “Our guys came out, they were fired up and ready to play. I’m extremely proud of them for the way they executed.”

Later in the first quarter, the Roosevelt defense thwarted Norton’s first scoring threat when junior defensive back Zachary Coleman recovered a fumble at the Rough Riders’ 14-yard line.

The Rough Riders then equally mixed passing and running plays (seven each) to move 63 yards in 14 plays to the Norton 23-yard line. Bryant connected on all seven of his throws for 48 yards, including a 19-yard completion to junior wide receiver Chace Dennison. This methodical, time-consuming drive ended when a fumbled snap was recovered by Norton linebacker Zavier Penny.

Faced with third-and-7, Norton senior quarterback Trey Kersten dropped back, tossed the ball deep and connected with senior wide receiver Alex Meinen for a 37-yard gain to the Roosevelt 33-yard line. Eight plays later, Kersten lobbed the ball into the end zone to Meinen, who made a nifty one-handed grab for a 12-yard touchdown. Senior kicker Blake Kaminski then booted the ball through the uprights to give his team a 7-6 lead at 4:28 of the second quarter.

Roosevelt countered with a touchdown drive that covered 69 yards in eight plays and culminated with a 14-yard scoring toss from Bryant to Sevyn Jones with six seconds left in the first half. On that touchdown, Bryant began to scramble after he faced some pressure from

Norton defenders. For a moment, it appeared he was going to run a keeper, but he stopped himself just short of the line of scrimmage and fired a strike to Sevyn Jones who made the catch in the front of the end zone. The extra point by senior kicker Isan Roberts put the Rough Riders ahead, 13-7.

Jackson praised Bryant for distributing the ball to multiple receivers in the open field that allowed them to pick up extra yards.

“We’ve got four receivers on the field,” Jackson said. “We believe in all four of them. We try to scheme things for all four of them to get involved and then you factor in our tailback, Makhi Jones, he’s awesome, too…We just got some really special playmakers when they have the ball in their hands.”

In addition, he felt the offensive line responded well to the challenge from the coaching staff.

Noting that Norton has a quick defensive front, Jackson said, “we have a young offensive line at multiple spots and they responded well, so I’m extremely proud of them.”

The second half was a defensive battle as each team turned the ball over twice and the Rough Riders defense recorded a pair of fourth down stops.

Norton’s opening drive of the second half was cut short when Makhi Jones intercepted a pass.

A fumble by Roosevelt on the very next play was recovered by the Panthers at the Norton 39-yard line.

Norton then drove 53 yards in seven plays to the Roosevelt 8-yard line. Critical plays on the drive included a 29-yard completion from Kersten to Meinen and a pass interference penalty on the Rough Riders on a third down pass into the end zone. On fourth down and 6 from the

Roosevelt 8-yard line, Kersten’s throw to senior wide receiver Jackson Lewis in the end zone was broken up by Dennison.

On Norton’s next possession, Kersten’s fourth down throw was picked off by Sevyn Jones at the Roosevelt 8-yard line. The Panther defense recorded a three-and-out, including a sack on

Bryant for a 9-yard loss.

Following a 29-yard punt, Norton took over at midfield and leaned into its running game to move 50 yards in 11 plays for the go-ahead score. The touchdown came on a four-yard keeper by Kersten with 5:35 remaining in the game.

On the Rough Riders’ next possession, a deep throw by Bryant was intercepted by Lewis at the Norton 15-yard line. As they did throughout most of the game, the Rough Rider D stood tall, forced a three-and-out and the offense had the ball back on its own 45-yard line with 3:43 left to play.

On second-and-9, Bryant fired a pass to senior wide receiver Tyler Ellington who broke away from Panther defenders for a 28-yard gain to the Norton 26-yard line. Two plays later, a 20-yard pass play from Bryan to Dennison was negated when the Rough Riders were whistled for holding. Bryant then completed passes of eight and two yards to Ellington and Dennison, respectively. Facing fourth down and 9 from the Norton 25-yard line with one minute left, the Rough Riders decided to try a field goal but the attempt failed.

Norton iced the game when Kersten ran for seven yards on second down and four.

“Offensively, we’ve got to stay on the field,” Jackson said afterward. “We did a good job of that in the first half keeping the ball out of Norton’s hands. They’ve got special playmakers as well, especially at quarterback. In the second half, they just had more opportunities to make plays and they took advantage of it.”

Jackson noted he and his coaching staff have talked with the defensive unit about “getting off the field on critical downs and everybody doing their job.”

“I think for four quarters, they did that,” Jackson stated. “We know good football teams are going to make plays at times. You’re not going to win every down and I think tonight was proof of that.”