Prep football: Rosemont overcomes sloppy first half in decisive road win against Union Mine
It didn’t look great for the Rosemont Wolverines Friday night on the road against the Union Mine Diamondbacks when they reached halftime tied at 6. They turned the ball over twice and had a crucial personal foul penalty lead to a Union Mine touchdown.
But head coach John Straw’s team bounced back and scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to cruise to a 27-12 road victory in a key match-up in the Sierra Valley Conference. Rosemont improved to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in league play, leapfrogging Union Mine to second place in the standings.
“Union Mine’s always a tough place for us to play,” Straw said. “They’ve been in our heads for years. They’re a great team. We just had to get (our) team to refocus. We had some sloppy plays, some fumbles. We just cleaned it up. The boys came out and played physical.
“We wanted it — we definitely wanted this win.”
Senior receiver Victor Noble, a standout athlete who is playing football for the first time this season, got the Wolverines on the board with an 81-yard touchdown with 29.3 seconds remaining in the first half. It was the first of a handful of big plays for the speedster.
“He’s special. If you watch film, he’s made those plays all year,” Straw said.
Junior wideout Kenny Hughes overcame a fumble on a long first-half kickoff return to add a 15-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter that made it 16-6. That score came after Rosemont’s defense held tough on its end, forcing a turnover on downs on Union Mine’s first drive of the second half that chewed eight minutes off the clock.
That defensive stop swung the momentum of the game before the Wolverines scored three in a row.
“It was huge,” Straw said. “We’re a bend-not-break team. We’re not going to give up the big play. We got too much speed to give up a big play. But we’re not going to quit. We got dogs on this team. They love Rosemont football, they love each other. We preach every day, family, and we live it.”
Wolverine running back Finis McDaniel Jr. added a pair of touchdowns, including a 44-yard carry late in the fourth quarter that sealed the victory. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, got its first and last touchdowns of the game from senior receiver Chase Pritchard and Brody Mcnabb, respectively, with the last coming when the game was already decided. Hughes ended it with a last-minute interception after Union Mine recovered an on-side kick.
Diamondback senior quarterback Cody Quijada made plays with his arm and his legs throughout his last regular season home game. But it wasn’t enough as Rosemont’s talented defense anchored by Jasauni Nelson — a 270-pound junior defensive tackle who controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the night.
The win for Rosemont adds to an already strong resume for the Division IV playoffs, and it keeps the Wolverines’ league title hopes alive, though they would need help in the form of losses from first-place Liberty Ranch, who improved to 8-0 with a 42-12 win Friday against Bradshaw Christian.
Friday’s win came after the Wolverines were beaten on the road last week by Liberty Ranch, 36-16, in their only loss since Sept. 1.
“After last week, with Liberty taking it to us, we wanted to put Rosemont’s name back on the map,” Straw said. “We wanted to let them know we’re here (to win) this league too.”
Rosemont’s last two games are at home against El Dorado next week and Bradshaw Christian. Union Mine has the tough task of trying to bounce back against Liberty Ranch before their season finale on the road in a rivalry game against El Dorado.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 11:25 PM.
