FeedsRockets tread familiar ground, beat Belleville
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John Glenn quarterback Justin Reid punches through Belleville’s line for a touchdown on Friday night. The Rockets beat host Belleville, 27-6.There was a familiar feeling in the muggy air on Friday night when the John Glenn Rockets defeated the Tigers, 27-6, in both teams’ season debut in Belleville.
The Rockets looked poised and ready. They had an air of confidence about them.
Although the team struggled through the 2005 season, these characteristics were established a year ago when they hosted Belleville in the opener in Westland—a game the Rockets won, 20-14, in the final two minutes.
This time was a little different. There was no last-minute Hail Mary touchdown drive. Instead, the Rockets came out blasting, took an early lead and built on it for the victory. They never let the Tigers in the game.
The Rockets gained momentum early, when Belleville fumbled on their second play of the opening drive. Glenn recovered on Belleville’s 34-yard line and marched, 11 plays later, into the end zone. An eight-yard pass from Justin Reid to Ian Thornton capped off the series at 7:09. The two-point conversion failed but Glenn captured an early 6-0 lead.
Reid scampered two yards to pay dirt at 5:24 in the second to add to the Rockets’ lead. Andrew Hein nailed the extra point, giving the Rockets a 13-0 advantage. Running back Blayre McCormick led the drive, carrying the ball eight times for 52 yards. He finished the night with 116 yards on 22 carries.
In the fourth, McCormick found the end zone from two yards out, upping Glenn’s lead to 20-0 after Hein’s kick just 51 seconds into the quarter. C.J. Woodford capped off the Rockets’ scoring at 6:14 of the fourth with a two-yard run. Hein’s kick was good for a 27-0 lead.
Patrick Jensen intercepted a pass for Glenn in the fourth to halt another Belleville drive.
Glenn Coach Todd Deluca said the team, especially the offensive line, improved from last year and was partially the reason for the win.
“We’ve been talking about our offensive line and the way we’ve blocked last season and I wasn’t happy with the way our offense went last year so we’ve been working hard on our line,” he said. “That was pleasing to me to see them coming off of the ball. That’s the way we used to play ball at John Glenn and we’re going to come back to that.
“I think in all phases of the game we’re just a better team,” he added. “Our personnel is better. Our guys are football players more so than they were last year. And we were young last year. These guys that struggled last year are now seniors and their starting to gel and they’re clicking and that helps.”
Despite the opening drive fumble, Belleville showed promise early in the game. The Tigers looked fast and strong but couldn’t capitalize on two key pass plays to get the offense going. The first attempt was in the first quarter on a third-and-14 play from Belleville’s own 40. Brandon Harris, the receiver, saw daylight and a path to a touchdown but the pass slipped through his hands. The Tigers had a similar play in the third where a bobbled pass eventually fell to the turf.
Belleville trudged on. With about 1:19 left on the clock, Belleville’s’ quarterback Phil Sullens connected with Harris for a 25-yard touchdown pass.
“We just made too many mistakes early and, offensively, couldn’t get anything going,” said Belleville Coach Bob LaPointe. “(Glenn) just controlled the ball on us. We have a lot of new players up front and (Glenn) did a lot of shifting on us. It shouldn’t have caused us a problem, but it did and it caused some confusion. There are a lot of things we can correct. I’m not unhappy with our effort. Our execution wasn’t very good tonight. We were on the field too long on defense and that’s going to kill you.”
Both teams will have a short week to strengthen what went right and to fix what went wrong before the next contest.
Belleville heads to Southgate for a 7 p.m. kickoff on tomorrow.
“Our kids will work hard and, I think, they will respond and they’ll bounce back,” LaPointe said.
John Glenn will host state runner-up Canton at 7 p.m. tonight.
“We’re just going to go back and practice and continue to work on the things we feel we need to work on and we’ll play the best we can Friday night and we’re going to do that every Friday.”
