Rutherford falls, but gains momentum for season opener

PANAMA CITY — What may have been a starting point for a new regime of Rutherford football also was a continuation of sorts for Fort Walton Beach Thursday night in a preseason kickoff classic at Tommy Oliver Stadium.

The Class 4A Vikings methodically carved out a 14-10 victory in a point differential that was made closer by the Rams’ reserves as the fourth quarter was played almost exclusively by backups on both sides.

But the matchup proved beneficial for what was intended. Class 3A Rutherford got some momentum under first-year coach Jeff Rolson, who is trying to re-establish a higher standard of excellence in Springfield.

Fort Walton Beach was formidable, while also discovering some tendencies that need to be corrected prior to attempting another march to the playoffs in 2010.

“It was an opportunity to test ourselves against a quality football team,” Rolson said. “No question we need to be more physical and execute better on both sides, but I feel a lot better now than I did after the spring jamboree.”

Vikings coach Mike Owens noted that Rutherford’s version of the Wing-T offense was difficult to prepare for in just a few days.

“But our kids handled it pretty well,” Owens said. “It was pretty typical” for a classic. “I would like to have been sharper, and we had a lot of penalties, but I’m proud of our defense.

“Hopefully we can stay healthy and go from here.”

Fort Walton Beach opened with a 72-yard scoring drive in 12 plays engineered by junior quarterback Ryan Thompson. He passed for 59 yards in the series, the big play a 35-yard connection with Chaun Lynn on third-and-15 from midfield.

T.C. Carter, who led all rushers with 51 yards on 13 carries, converted on third down inside the 5, then used a momentum block from Martin Starling to score from the 3 with 8:15 left in the first quarter.

When Rutherford stalled on its first possession, FWB drove to the Rutherford 14, but the Rams held and Austin Meeks was wide left on a 31-yard field-goal attempt.

Rutherford seemed to regroup from that point, and held its own the remainder of the half.

“Their defense was outstanding, but I thought our players gave great effort,” Rolson stressed, after telling his assembled squad that it faced adversity early and didn’t back down.

Rutherford sophomore quarterback Dondrell Harris got loose on a 32-yard keeper around the left side early in the second quarter. Emanuel Cuff ran 9 yards on a counter for a first down to the FWB 21, and sophomore Eric Riley nailed a 37-yard field goal to make it 7-3 at the half.

Steve Strano relieved Thompson to start the second half for the Vikings and led them on a 37-yard scoring drive. Again it was Lynn with the big play, snaring a 20-yard pass to set up first and goal.

After a high snap from center set FWB back to the 12, Strano found Dale Smith for a touchdown on the next play and Ronnie Couch’s second extra point made it 14-3 midway through the third quarter.

Rutherford’s lone touchdown came with Dallas Davis spelling Harris at quarterback. Junior Isiah Sims took a sweep to the right side, cut back deep in the secondary and sprinted 58 yards for the Rams’ touchdown.

• FWB                           7 0 7 0 - 14
• Rutherford                0 3 0 7 - 10
• First quarter
• FWB: Carter 3 run (Couch kick)
• Second quarter
• RHS: FG Riley 37
• Third quarter
• FWB: Smith 12 pass from Strano (Couch kick)
• Fourth quarter
• RHS: Sims 58 run (Riley kick)
• INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
• RUSHING — FWB: Carter 13-51, Hamilton 7-25, Kelly 4-23, Thompson 1-13, Smith 2-13, James 2-5, Meyer 2-4, team 1-(-11), RHS: Sims 3-89, Raibon 12-33, Elliott 4-27, Harris 7-26, Cuff 5-19, Williams 3-9, Barwick 5-5, Davis 4-4.
• PASSING — FWB: Thompson 7-15-0-105, Strano 5-8-0-55, James 0-3-0-0, Kelly 0-1-0-0. RHS: Harris 1-5-1-6.
• RECEIVING — FWB: Coward 4-46, Lynn 2-55, Young 2-32, Smith 1-12, Petrucci 1-6, Willis 1-5, Meyer 1-4. RHS: Knight 1-6.