Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School’s football team (1-1) was victorious against Hobbton Middle (0-1) this past Wednesday, as the Leopards won 16-6.
The first quarter was a scoreless affair as both sides settled in during the game. That changed in the second quarter, as an 81-yard touchdown run from Hobbton’s Ra’Mir Mallety was taken to the house. Up 6-0, the Wildcats went for two, but were stopped at the goal line.
Hobbton took the lead into halftime before they kicked off possession to start the third quarter. After a solid return from Roseboro-Salemburg’s Kaiden Williams, the Leopards began to work up the field. A small scare occurred during the drive, as a fumble by Leopard running back Rodney Thompkins occurred on third down, but Roseboro-Salemburg recovered. The Leopards converted the ball on fourth down to set up a touchdown run from Williams that tied the game. RS went up after the two-point conversion from Williams was successful.
In the final quarter, the first possession for Hobbton resulted in a punt, which gave the ball back to the youngLeopards. A huge run from Williams continued the momentum that Roseboro-Salemburg entered with in the second half. That run was aided by a 15-yard penalty called on the Hobbton defense on second down to push the Leopards farther into Wildcat territory. Thompkins made sure to make the good field position count, as he rushed in to score the second touchdown on the day for the Leopards. Up 14-6, Roseboro-Salemburg handed the ball straight to Williams for a second successful two-point attempt. Down two possessions, the Wildcats urgently moved down the field to try and score as quickly as possible.
The next play sparked a moment of concern.
As Hobbton’s Vann Williams ran with the ball in his hands out of the pocket and up the sidelines, Leopard defender Ayden Ammons laid a huge hit on Williams as he was headed out of bounds. The force of the hit knocked Williams into the sideline bench, and the Wildcat went down. A penalty was called for unnecessary roughness, but the Hobbton sideline was irate about the late hit on Williams. After some time being attended to, Williams was able to get up and was carted off by nearby staff.
The drive ended shortly afterwards for Hobbton, as they fumbled the ball a few plays later back to the Leopards. The Wildcats’ defense was able to hold Roseboro-Salemburg at bay with under 1:16 left in the final quarter, but time expired shortly afterwards.
The victory for Roseboro-Salemburg sees the team rebound from a 38-0 loss to Sampson. The next game for the Leopards will be against Midway on Wednesday, Sept. 23, while Hobbton looks to rebound against Sampson on the same date and time.