Last week, the Judson Rockets had 0 points, 30 plays for 40 yards, and 43 yards in penalties…in the first half. Yeah, pretty bad!!! In the 4th quarter, they scored 4 touchdowns and even a had a brief lead of 34 to 30!!! WOW!!! Judson quarterback, Michael Maloto, struggled in the first 3 quarters, but looked confident in that 4th quarter. Isaiah Gibson, a wide receiver and probably the fastest guy on the field didn’t play in the first 3 quarters…in the 4th, he had 2 receptions for 92 yards and both were for touchdowns. Maloto to Gibson…I like the sound of that!!
I wasn’t expecting a similar start on Friday night by the Judson. I mean, this is the Judson Rockets I am talking about and expectations are always high.
Man, on the Rockets first possession, they looked sharp…a couple of completed passes and a nice run by the freshman running back…BUT, they fumbled the ball in the red zone and that was the beginning of the TURNOVER PLAGUE FOR THE ROCKETS. They had 7 turnovers (that is not a typo). It is really hard to win a game with that many turnovers. In 2012, Judson lost by 7 points to the Steele Knights and they had 5 turnovers.
Well, I guess I should stop telling you my expectations because it was a very similar first half on Friday against Brandeis and last week against Pflugerville Hendrickson…0 points and 80 total yards of offense. Maloto to Gibson was not present due to the fact that again, Gibson didn’t play in the first half. Why? I have no clue!!! Brandeis put up 24 points on 286 yards of total offense.
The 2nd half was deja vu for the Judson Rockets. They scored 14 points on 33 plays for 214 yards. Isiah Gibson (hey, welcome to the game) and Malik Taylor, the junior running back, scored both touchdowns. When Gibson is in the game, the Rockets look like a totally different team. Despite that, the Rockets lost again by a score of 27 to 14. Yeah, they had 7 turnovers (5 of them were fumbles) and I think they really need to make a change on offense for next Thursday’s game. Thank god, I am not a Coach and I won’t have to make this choice.
Overall, the Rockets ran 59 plays for 295 yards and had only 15:37 time of possession. Michael Maloto, was 9 of 18 passing for 125 yards with 2 interceptions (one was returned for a Brandeis touchdown) and 1 touchdown. Back-up, Weston Vecasy, was 7 of 8 for 66 yards and 1 touchdown. The leading receiver was again Isiah Gibson, who had 5 receptions for 101 yards and 1 touchdown (he needs to start). In just 2 quarters of play, he has 7 receptions for 198 yards and 3 touchdowns.
After missing the first game with an injury, Malik Taylor, the junior running back, had 10 carries for 30 yards. Julon Williams, the freshman running back, had 6 carries for 32 yards. I heard a press-box rumor that Julon’s natural position is quarterback! I am not asking…but it would be fun to see him take snaps!!
Brandeis defeated the Johnson Jaguars last week (the same Johnson team that lost to the Katy Tigers in the state semi-finals last season…Katy won the state championship) and they had a 100 yard passer, rusher, and receiver. On Friday night, only 1 player surpassed the 100 yard mark and that was junior running back, Jaylen Dukes (he had 15 carries for 108 yards and 1 touchdown). Tommy Woods, another junior running back, had 8 carries for 31 yards (last week, he had over 100 yards) and Gavin Turney, yet another junior running back, had 12 carries for 42 yards. I was impressed with all 3 running backs.
Paul Lozano, the quarterback for Brandeis, was 6 of 10 passing for 87 yards but left the game due to an injury…I hope he is OK. His back-up, Derek Dennard, had 21 yards passing but as a rusher, he had 5 carries for 49 yards. Both quarterbacks did a fine job of managing the Brandeis offense.
Brandeis did capitalize on some of the Judson turnovers. They are an extremely well coached team and once they got the lead, they ran clock by running the ball. They also didn’t fear the Mojo of the Converse Judson Rockets.
Brandeis is 2 and 0 and Judson falls to 0 and 2. Next week, Brandeis plays Pflugerville Hendrickson (they beat Judson in Week 1) and Judson plays Johnson who also is winless (who were beat by Brandeis last week).
So, we got Judson, Johnson, Madison, and Smithson Valley all with 0 wins and 2 losses to start the 2014 season. I, for one, didn’t expect to see this!! Did you?
Oh, when I work Judson games, I tweet stats to @judsonfootball. Well, last night, Joe Perez Jr, the owner of Judson Football Highlights on Facebook, made me an editor on his page and I provided stats through-out the game on his page. This really helps bring more awareness to me and my blog.
Next Thursday, I will be at Gustafson stadium as the Stevens Falcons host the Clemens Buffaloes.