By Matt Turer — @MattTurer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — If Rolla fans are to believe what head coach Jon Franks said about Jack Hounsom after Friday’s game, then the Bulldogs have more wins on the horizon.
“Everybody talks a lot about Josh Pritchett, but Jack, at this point in his career in comparison to Josh is probably a little bit better,” Franks said.
That type of praise three starts into a varsity career that follows the footsteps of a 50-touchdown senior season in 2017 by Pritchett is notable.
And so is almost everything Hounsom did on Friday.
The junior passed for 95 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 70 yards and two more scores in an endless and often driving rain, while running back Trey Quick added 148 yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs decisive 48-0 victory over Hillcrest.
Hounsom’s two touchdowns through the air came on perfect downfield strikes into the shimmering rain. The first hit Roderick Alfred in stride for a 40-yard touchdown after the wideout split the Hillcrest defense, putting the Bulldogs up 6-0 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.
The second was a 47-yard dart off a run-pass option to a streaking Elijah Young with 4:33 left in the third. That score instituted a turbo clock with Rolla’s lead up to 35-0.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
“Really impressed with him tonight,” Franks said. “He has a lot of pressure. Any time a quarterback is a quarterback in a spread system there’s a lot of pressure on those guys. Jack has fought through and hasn’t gotten down on himself and is just continuing to progress.”
Hounsom’s zone-read ability was also a factor in Rolla’s 250 rush yards, but the junior gave most of the credit to his line.
“The offensive line was great,” Hounsom said. “They came out of that break sharp, and they were making big holes for us. It was easy to run through.”
Quick also took advantage of that space with a 36-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter.
ADVERSITY ANSWERED?
Friday’s game was moved up to 6:30pm to avoid expected lightning but still saw a delay from 7:32pm to 9:18pm that started with 2:27 left in the first half and a 14-0 Rolla lead. The Bulldogs scored 34 of their 48 points after the delay.
“We knew this weather was going to be adversity for everybody and it’d come down to who would handle it better,” Franks said. “We had a rough start coming in but we handled the adversity really well.”
Hillcrest head coach Justin Gerald didn’t see the same type of response.
“It’s the want-to,” Gerald said. “It’s overcoming adversity. And it’s the want to overcome adversity. I’ve seen them play better than that. I know we can do better than that. And that’s why I’m upset the way I am. We did not answer adversity.”
The Hornets were held to 99 total yards in the loss and walked off to a home blowout loss that not many expected with both teams evenly matched on paper. Both Rolla and Hillcrest were shutout by and allowed over 40 points to West Plains, and both beat Glendale by five points.
“We’re still pretty inexperienced,” Gerald said. “A lot of the time when you’re inexperienced and when you get an all-out rain game, and against a solid team like Rolla, you’ve got to play your best, and we did not. We didn’t answer adversity tonight, but we will next week.”
YOUNG DOMINATES BOTH SIDES
The highlights for Rolla’s Young didn’t stop with the 47-yard touchdown haul. The senior also picked off a pair of Cameron O’Brey passes for two of Rolla’s four turnovers on defense and special teams.
BETTER THAN THAT
After losing 49-0 to West Plains last week, the Bulldogs came in with something to prove.
“We have a great coaching staff and they put out a great game plan,” Hounsom said. “We played really bad last week. We knew we were way better than that and we knew we could come out and show that we’re not 49 points worse than [West Plains].”
UP NEXT
Hillcrest heads east to Waynesville next Friday while Rolla hosts Parkview.
SCORING
RHS — 6-15-14-13 — 48
HHS — 0-0-0-0 — 0
1ST QUARTER
RHS – TD – 4:48 – Roderick Alfred 40 Yd pass from Jack Hounsom (2 pt fails) — 6-0 RHS
2ND QUARTER
RHS – TD – 9:51 – Trey Quick 36 Yd run (2 pt good) — 14-0 RHS
RHS – TD – 0:57 – Jack Hounsom 4 Yd run (PAT good) — 21-0 RHS
3RD QUARTER
RHS – TD – 8:07 – Jack Hounsom 5 Yd run (PAT good) — 28-0 RHS
RHS – TD – 1:30 – Elijah Young 47 Yd pass from Jack Hounsom (PAT good) — 35-0 RHS
4TH QUARTER
RHS – TD – 7:26 – Blaize Kossner 3 Yd run (PAT fails) — 41-0 RHS
RHS – TD – 0:25 – Ahmed Boubacar fumble recovery in endzone (PAT good) — 48-0 RHS
