Flames don’t back down
For those who thought the Flames would not last the first two quarters against Rockwall Heritage Christian Nov. 15, the players took that to heart along with the words of their head coach David Denney.
“They never quit,” he said. “They never gave up. I told them, ‘Don’t worry about the scoreboard. I want you to play with great effort and don’t get out-hit. They out-hit the other team and played with great effort.”
Though the Flames lost, 76-30, it took Rockwall Heritage coaches pleading, begging and yelling at their players to compete and match Faith’s intensity.
“Their coach was hollering they weren’t ready to play,” Denney said. “They were in a dogfight.”
Rockwall took an 8-0 lead, but the Flames answered though the extra-point attempt failed, 8-6. Heritage added to the lead before Faith reclaimed it, 18-16.
“Their coach was going nuts,” Denney said. “They were given a sideline warning. I think our kids were giving them all they could handle.”
Running back Will Diamond was the workhorse as he ran through and over tacklers.
“They couldn’t stop our running game,” the coach said.
But Rockwall took a 26-24 halftime lead.
All of the sudden, momentum came to a screeching halt.
“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Denney said.
The Flames scored on a touchdown pass, and the official who was closest to the play from the Faith sideline signaled touchdown.
But the official on the opposite side of the field said the player went out of bounds before he crossed pay dirt.
“After that, it took the air out of us,” Denney said. “We’re just not that good to overcome those things.”
Another call that was difficult to play through was a fumble they didn’t keep.
“The official inadvertently whistled the ball was dead before he fumbled,” the coach said. “It took the wind out of our sails.”
The Flames experienced two fumbles in a row on center-quarterback exchanges, Denney said, which was something that hadn’t happened before.
The coach said his squad would not offer excuses.
“They made plays and we didn’t,” he said. “Every time we made a good play, it was called back because of a penalty. They’re a good ball club.”
The Flames could not overcome missing six extra points and untimely penalties, he said.
“It seemed like we couldn’t get anything going,” the coach said. “You can’t blame it on the officials. They’re doing their jobs and calling it as they see it. We’re not good enough to overcome those situations.”
Faith lost cornerback and receiver Adrian Byrd to a twisted ankle that forced coaches to move players to different positions.
Diamond went to cornerback, which meant there was hardly a pass rush, so Heritage was able to throw to a player in the flat for positive yards.
Byrd also was one of the most consistent receivers.
“We had critical situations where we dropped passes,” Denney said. “We had to convert those situations, and we didn’t do it.”
Byrd scored on a kickoff return, while Chase Penner scored on a touchdown reception from Ryan Roberts. Diamond scored the rest.
With less than four minutes remaining, Heritage finally hit the 45-point mercy rule to win the contest.
“[Faith players] felt like they played a whole lot better than the scoreboard showed,” Denney said. The scoreboard didn’t indicated how hard they played.
jfierro@thepicayune.com