St. Mary's football stymied by Rocklin in Division 2 final
SACRAMENTO ― The Rams couldn’t hold back the tears as they watched the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 2 championship game slip from their fingers on Saturday night.
St. Mary’s entered Hughes Stadium as the No. 1 seed against No. 2 seed Rocklin, but the Thunder proved to be the better-performing team Saturday night as it snagged the SJS Division 2 blue banner with a 17-6 victory over the Rams.
“This is a football game, so at this point, there are no favorites, no underdogs you can throw all that stuff away,” said Rocklin coach Jason Adams. “They got good players, we got good players. We expect to win and they expect to win; it's two good teams.”
Here are the key takeaways from St. Mary’s final game of the season.
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Rhythmless Rams
The Rams were known for their explosive offense during regular and postseason play. That narrative changed against the big-body defenders from Rocklin. Senior running back Asante Carter was held scoreless, only rushing for close to 25 yards on 10 carries. With the run game depleted, pressure was on for quarterback Samson Hunkin.
He managed the weight on his shoulders well in the opening quarter, finding sophomore Kenneth Moore III for a 75-yard touchdown to give St. Mary’s a 6-0 lead. But Hunkin and the Rams' offense couldn't replicate that success for the rest of the night. They fell behind 14-6 by halftime.
“It just seems like we struggled all night finding our rhythm,” St. Mary’s coach Tony Franks said. “Just seems like we had really had trouble finding our groove and finding our rhythm and we had some turnovers and that hurt us. We just couldn’t find our groove.”
Not only could the Rams not convert in scoring position but their turnovers also made it more difficult to stay in the game. Hunkin ended with three interceptions, his final pick came in the fourth quarter with just minutes left, sucking all the air from St. Mary’s sideline.
“I’m just disappointed that we didn't come up with a win,” said Omari Gayles, St. Mary’s senior safety. “It's really sad for all the seniors including me. I was really hoping we could have come away with this section championship, I’ve been thinking about it since my freshman year when I came to this school. It’s just too bad.”
Rocklin’s run game shines
While St. Mary’s offense struggled all night, the Thunder made waves on the ground. Leading the charge was junior running back Derek Keeley. The 5-foot-11 power back carried the ball 20 times for 106 yards and a touchdown. His two-yard score gave Rocklin its first lead of the night and it wouldn’t let it go.
No matter what the Rams did, Keely and the Thunder found holes. When it wasn’t Keely making them pay, sophomore quarterback Reeve Slone was their next problem. He scored his team’s second touchdown on a 44-yard quarterback keeper.
Slone rushed for close to 100 yards and threw for 95 yards. In a low-scoring game, the ground game helped secure the Thunder’s victory. They will look to do the same in their pending CIF State game next week.
The Rams close out the season with an 11-2 record as the SJS Division 2 runners-up. Hunkin, Gayles, Carter, and 27 other seniors will graduate and, for a good chunk of them, this was the final football game of their career.
“I’m real proud of the team for getting to this point,” Franks said. “It's a heck of an accomplishment to get to this point, and it's hard to win game after game week after week at this level and time of the season. So we're happy to be here and I'm proud of our team for the season that they had.”
Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: SJS football playoffs: Rocklin beats St. Mary's for Division 2 title
