ROCK SPRINGS — A new era of Rock Springs Tigers football began on Friday night in what was a blowout victory at home against the Kelly Walsh Trojans. For anyone questioning the new regime and Head Coach Ted Holmstrom, there was nothing left to question about this team’s desire and effort out on the field.
Rock Springs battled in the first half to go into halftime with a 14-7 lead, but blew the doors off of the second half, outscoring the Trojans 38-0. Rock Springs showed their strength defensively and the team’s ability to make explosive plays in what ended in a 52-7 victory.
Here’s tonight’s postgame thoughts.
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Complementary Football is the Best Kind of Football
The best kind of football team is the team that plays complementary football. And that was the case tonight for the Tigers.
Rock Springs had several forced turnovers tonight on the defensive side of the ball, which led to opportunities and points for the offense. Moving forward, takeaways by the Tigers defense will continue to be key throughout the season.
On the offensive side of the ball, this coaching staff called a really balanced offense that was patient, but potent. Long drives, short fields, it didn’t matter. The offense found a way to execute and put points up tonight outside of a few turnovers. Quarterback Michael Faigl put on a show and he’s only going to progress throughout the season which will be fun to see as the offense develops.
On special teams, the Tigers did a great job of tracking down punts and on the flip side setting up themselves with good field position. The kickoff team also recovered a muffed ball to start the second half. And it should be noted that the field goal team was successful on all seven PATs and a field goal as well.
It doesn’t get much better when all three phases of the game are on point. Sure there are things to clean up, but coming out and playing all three phases of the game for all four quarters is easier said than done.
Tonight was the best kind of football.
Flack’s Game Ball 🏈
There were a lot of candidates for this season’s first game ball. But I’d be doing no justice for the purpose of the game ball if I didn’t toss it over to sophomore Ben Fowler.
Fowler is going to be an exciting player to keep an eye on this season, among others. But what caught my eye the most is his effort on every single play, which eventually led to him making electrifying plays like his 85-yard pick six in the fourth quarter.
Offenses are going to have their hands full trying to keep a handle on this kid. He’s going to be special, and I can’t wait to see him continue to grow this season.
– Flack
A Season of What If?
What if the Tigers have something brewing special this season? I’m marking this season as a season of what if.
I think there are a lot of people out there who wrote this team off before the season began and considered the Tigers as a middle of the pack team. But at the end of the day, that’s why the games are played. The Tigers beat Kelly Walsh 42-7 last year and eclipsed that score tonight.
There are a lot of young players on this team to be excited about. So, what if the Rock Springs Tigers make some noise this season?
Certainly, they did tonight.
