The Craig County Rockets rolled into Vinton’s Vinyard Park Monday night looking for an upset of the home standing Roanoke Catholic Celtics.
Little doubt the Celtics came out of the gate with all the propulsion.
Jumping out to a 33-6 lead after one half, Roanoke Catholic was on automatic pilot after intermission, running away with the 47-12 non-district win in a game delayed three nights because of last weekend’s heavy rains and flooding.
The Celtic victory, despite chilly conditions at Vinyard, kept the enthusiastic Roanoke Catholic homecoming crowd upbeat all evening.
Roanoke Catholic wasted no time taking control.
After receiving the opening kickoff, Craig County saw its first possession go for a minus-6 net yards before punting to the Celtics.
Junior Jamel Tyree returned the kick to the Rocket’s 26-yard line, where Catholic drove for their first score culminated by senior Christopher Zoller’s 16-yard touchdown run with 9:32 left in the first quarter. Catholic led 6-0 after the missed point-after.
On their next possession, the Celtics went up 12-0 on Tyree’s touchdown run from 5-yards out with 4:07 still remaining in the opening quarter.
Craig County coughed up the ball on their first play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff, and Catholic was in the end zone six plays later when junior Ian McInnis barreled in from 1 yard out to make it 19-0 after Cheng Sullivan’s conversion kick with 1:03 remaining in the first.
Craig County finally dented the scoreboard in the second quarter on a Kevin Swingle to Luke Howard 17-yard touchdown pass that closed the Celtic lead to 19-6, but Zoller added a 5-yard touchdown run and Tyree scored on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jeremiah Krajnik to close the first half scoring, sending the teams to the break with Catholic up 33-6.
Roanoke Catholic scored twice in the third quarter on Tyree’s 33-yard run and a 38-yard burst by junior Matthew Saville that had the Celtics up 47-6 heading to the final frame. Craig County sophomore Jacob Bradford scored on a 55-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that settled the final margin.
Zoller led the Roanoke Catholic rushing attack with 140 yards as the Celtics improved to 5-1on the season.
Bill Turner
