By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

ROOTSTOWN 56, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 8

The Rovers bounced back in a major way from a 33-14 loss at Conneaut last week.

Rootstown scored an impressive 48 points in the first half on its way to a rout of the visiting Knights on Friday’s Homecoming Night for the Rovers.

Rootstown pushed out to a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, then kept the offense moving with 27 more second-quarter points.

“I am very proud of our kids, bouncing back and coming out to show what they are capable of in all three phases of the game,” Rootstown head coach Chris Knopick said. “We had a good week of preparation, and we will need another one this week as we head to JFK (in Week 7).”

Cody Coontz scored five more touchdowns, lifting his season total to 21 for the Rovers.

Coontz scored on runs of 23, 9, 46, 32 and 60 yards, which were half of his carries for the entire game.

The senior running back finished with 213 yards rushing on a mere 10 carries.

Also scoring touchdowns for the Rovers was Drew Nero on a 2-yard run, Luke DeAngelis on a 6-yard run and Damien Reuting, in the fourth quarter, on a run from 2 yards out.

It was Reuting’s first varsity touchdown of his career.

As a team, Rootstown finished with 271 yards on the ground on 21 attempts (12.9 yards per carry).

Defensively, Rootstown, which is now 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the PTC, held the Knights (0-6, 0-1) to only 65 yards in the game — all on the ground.