It was not the way the Jacket Nation wanted the football season to start, but it was definitely a game for the history books after the Rome were able to outlast Rockmart at Barron Stadium in a 28-21 victory for the Wolves.

The Jackets were keeping a solid lead against the Rome Wolves through much of the game, but two touchdowns in the second half and turnovers took a toll on Rockmart until finally the Wolves ran out the clock with victory formations.

“I’m super proud of our guys,” Rockmart Head Coach Biff Parson said. “Yeah, we didn’t come out with a win, but I think we represented Rockmart the way that we have over the past four year… We made the mistakes. You can’t turn the ball over four times and expect to win a game. I don’t care who you play. We came up here as the big underdog and no one gave us a chance. We had the game going our way, and we had some mistakes like I said. We didn’t finish. We had an opportunity to late in the game, and again we turned it over. ”

In terms of the game, Rockmart was poised to take a big win over Rome in what was supposed to be part of the Corky Kell Classic, but the games were split up and ultimately Cedartown was forced to bow out of the first game of the season due to COVID-19 positives on the team and the amount of time required to reacclimate players before they are allowed to play again.

Kickoff gave Rockmart the ball first, and the opportunity to punch in an early score. With 7:25 left in the first quarter, Javin Whatley connected with Lanear McCrary to put up an opening touchdown, but the point after went wide and the Jackets settled for a 6-0 lead. Rome responded with a Jaquavious Wise score and went up 7-6 before a pick thrown by Whatley on the next possession setup another Wolves touchdown to put them team up 14-6.

Rockmart wasn’t out of it yet. On the subsequent drive, Rockmart made it down to the red zone and was attempting a field goal when the hold was muffed, and Whatley went scrambling to avoid Rome defenders and was ultimately able to find the edge of the end zone to help the Jackets get back on the board in the second quarter. Quarterback JD Davis came up with a big score of his own when the freshman kept it on a sneak past the defensive line and was able to put up a quick six from a few yards out.

The put up a two-point conversion to go up 21-14.

Davis and Whatley ultimately combined for the four turnovers through the game that hurt the Jackets’ chance of winning over the Wolves, who capitalized on all four of the interceptions and fumbles to score. The Rockmart defense was unable to stop Rome from scoring twice more in the second half to take a lead and the win for the season opener.

Parson said the team will “correct all that” when they face Cedartown this coming Friday (September 11) for the first home game of the season and continuing the rivalry between the Bulldogs and Jackets in the Battle of Polk County. (Reminder: ticket sales for games are limited this year.)

He said fans need no prompting to come out and watch this year’s match-up, which acts as Cedartown’s opener after they called off what would have been the season start this past Friday night (Sept. 4) in Carrollton.

“Look at Rockmart nation right there,” Parson said, pointing toward the still-full stands following the finish of the game from Barron Stadium. “We showed up. And that’s what’s happened over the past four years. That’s the standard that we set.”

This is the first time that the Yellow Jackets have begun their season 0-1 since 2017, when they lost the opener to Cedartown.

Here’s a couple additional photos from the game: