ROCK SPRINGS — There were no tricks, but only treats in the quarterfinals round of the playoffs for the Rock Springs Tigers on Friday night.
The Tigers dominated the Trojans 42-21, scoring 42 unanswered points and punching their ticket for the semifinals round of the playoffs.
With only four teams remaining, the Tigers continue their quest next week against the Cheyenne East Thunderbirds at home next Friday. A victory will put Rock Springs in the state title game.
Here’s tonight’s postgame thoughts.
Rock Springs High School sports coverage is brought to you by these amazing sponsors:
Physicality Matters in the Postseason
Going into this game tonight, I knew the Rock Springs Tigers are a physical football team. But tonight that really shined in their blowout victory against Kelly Walsh.
Up front the Tigers took care of business, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The offensive line did a fantastic job protecting quarterback Brock Bider and executed run blocking at a high level. The offense had their way tonight and it was all because of the protection up front and the physicality the offensive line brought.
On the defensive line, Kelly Walsh had really no answer. There was constant pressure on the quarterback which led to a sack frenzy for Rock Springs. The Trojans had a few big plays, but ultimately they had nothing in between the tackles in the run game. Most of their yardage came from stringing out the defense or large pass plays.
Physicality matters. And it’s what the postseason is all about.
Flack’s Game Ball 🏈
Brock Bider is getting his second game ball of the season.
This kid continues to impress me, and I think defenses still don’t respect his game.
From ball placement to quick decision making, Bider was on point tonight. It’s fun to watch when he’s in control of the game and in the zone. It’s very difficult to rattle him and Kelly Walsh had zero answer.
My favorite play Bider made tonight was his quarterback sneak for a yard that ended up being a 35-yard touchdown run. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that happen.
Bider’s leadership and decision making can take this team as far as they want to go.
Great game, Brock!
– Flack
Tackling the Trojans
Another key takeaway from tonight’s game was Rock Springs’ tackling on defense. For the most part, the Tigers have been good tacklers throughout the season.
There are many examples of great tackling tonight, but perhaps one play that stood out to me most was a play made by Andrew Skorcz in the first quarter. Skorcz came out of nowhere and made a textbook tackle at the line of scrimmage. It was art.
Open field tackling is hard at every level of football. But tonight the Rock Springs defense excelled at limiting yards after first contact. That’s championship type defense, and it’s exactly what we saw in this game.
