Rockridge holds off second-half surge by E-PC in Class 2A playoff win

TAYLOR RIDGE – Staring at a 22-point halftime deficit and without a first down offensively, Eastland-Pearl City was in quite the hole in Saturday’s Class 2A playoff matchup with Rockridge.

The Wildcatz did not roll over.

E-PC forced multiple turnovers and made things interesting late, but the eighth-seeded Rockets held on in a 22-8 win over the ninth-seeded Wildcatz (7-3). Rockridge (8-2) advances to face No. 1 seed Farmington (10-0), a 21-0 winner over Dee-Mack.

“Only having that many yards on offense in the first half, that’s very uncharacteristic of us,” E-PC coach Jared McNutt said. “And it was hard to call a play when they were just pinning their ears back and running it down our throats.”

It’s no secret E-PC wants to run the ball. Rockridge didn’t let it happen, holding the Wildcatz to 55 yards rushing. Draven Zier was held to 13 yards on seven carries and Adam Awender had 35 yards on 13 carries. Awender’s 10-yard scamper at the 11:11 mark of the fourth quarter was E-PC’s only score.

Forced to pass more than it would like against a relentless rush, Awender finished 3-of-16 for 35 yards and two interceptions.

“You have certain plays, maybe a handful, that you really, really like. And if you spend them all in the first quarter, first half, it’s like, holy cow, what do I come back to,” McNutt said. “We liked a certain amount of things, and then they just did a great job defending us.”

Offensively, the Rockets were far from perfect. But they ran the ball effectively and built enough of a lead to make it tough on E-PC.

Cullen Schwigen hit Landon Wheatley for a six-yard touchdown to help make it 7-0 at the 8:39 mark of the first quarter. E-PC missed a would-be highlight reel, one-handed catch on third and long and had to punt on the ensuing drive. Schwigen later ran it in and the Rockets converted a two-point conversion despite a botched snap as Owen Steele found Baylen Leemans in the end zone to make it 15-0.

Tanner Stern got an interception for E-PC, but Trevor Dye answered with a Rockridge pick to get it right back. Schwigen’s second rushing score and a Bodhi Morales kick made it 22-0 heading into halftime.

The Wildcatz converted a first down to start the second half, but again turned it over as Liam Steele recovered a fumble. E-PC continued to battle on defense, making a fourth down stop near midfield. But Rockridge again forced a 3-and-out.

“Their [defensive backs], if they saw our tight end block down, they were knifing in,” McNutt said. “It reminded me a lot of Forreston back when they were making their state runs with their cover 4 [defense] and those safety’s coming down hard.

“They were just pinning their ears back and meeting us at the line of scrimmage or meeting us 2 yards down the field, and we just couldn’t get them going.”

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Rockridge quarterback Cullen Schwigen (6) breaks away from Eastland-Pearl City defenders in 2A state football playoffs first round action on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 at Eddington. (Earleen Hinton)

Rockridge coach Sam Graves said his team did a good job physically in the first half. It then became “lethargic”. Rockridge still held E-PC to 94 total yards and only five first downs.

“I think we expected to come out and 40-point them,” he said. “I think our mentality in the locker room was, this game is over. And you see in the playoffs, it just takes one play and momentum of the game and the outcome of the game can flip in one play.”

That one play very well could have been E-PC’s blocked punt in the fourth quarter. The Wildcatz recovered the ball in Rockridge territory, but just could not capitalize after turning it over on downs after a missed passing connection. Rockridge got another fourth down stop with 1:36 left before closing it out.

E-PC finished with its most wins since going 12-1 in 2018 in McNutt’s first year. Their only other losses this season were to Du-Pec and Lena-Winslow in NUIC play.

“Seven wins is nothing to shake your fist at,” McNutt said. “I think seven wins is a great record for this league that we play in. I was just so proud of the way our guys stayed in the fight.”

For Rockridge, Schwigen had 74 yards rushing; Jacob Freyermuth had 70 yards rushing, including a 55-yarder on his first carry; and Thomas Sowards had 81 yards on 16 carries. Schwigen threw two interceptions and E-PC had a fumble recovery.

Rockridge senior Landon Bull thought the team let up in the second half and should have won by more.

“We’ve got to put our foot down on the pedal,” he said. “That’s what the game of football is all about. It’s all four quarters and nothing else.”

Wheatley said the team has tended to be sluggish in second halves with the lead. But an ugly win is still a win.

“We struggled a little bit on offense but I think our defense just kept it going,” he said. “We have stuff to fix. We were nowhere near perfect that game.

“We controlled it from the start and our guys really enjoyed that.”