Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PEDRO — It was a good first game performance for the Rock Hill Redmen. They made just two key mistakes.

And the Minford Falcons made them pay for those mistakes.

Rock Hill punted once but Breydan Tilley returned it for a touchdown and a Redmen potential scoring drive ended at Minford 29 when they had their only fumble of the game.

Those mistakes allowed Minford to escape with a 22-21 win over the Redmen in the season opener on Friday.

Rock Hill ran for 257 yards with Zak Adkins getting 205 yards on 16 carries and Cameron Barnette added 123 yards on 23 attempts.

The Redmen had just 9 yards passing for 266 total yards.

Minford rushed for 202 yards and quarterback Kelton Kelley was 8-of-15 passing for 86 yards — 23 coming at the end of the first half with Rock Hill in a prevent. Kelley also ran 12 times for 78 yards.

Darius Jordan added 61 yards on 12 attempts and Mason Bricker 34 yards on 11 tries.

The teams matched field goals in the first quarter as Minford’s Talen Coriell kicked a 41-yarder and Rock Hill’s Brady Floyd answered with a 26-yarer at the 5:07 mark.

Kelley had a 6-yard scoring run to cap a 71-yard, 13-play drive that put Minford up 9-3 with 11:54 left in the half.

But Rock Hill tied the game on a 5-yard run by Logan Hankins with 8:42 on the second quarter clock and then Brayden Friend’s 1-yard run culminated a 69-yard, 13-play march highlighted by Adkins’ 24-yard run on the first play and his 18-yard reception that got the ball to the 1-yard line.

But Minford erased the 15-9 deficit when Tilley returned a punt 64 yards for the score and Coriell’s kick put the Falcons up 16-15.

Rock Hill came right back and used a 40-yard run by Barnette to set up his own 1-yard scoring run and the Redmen were back in front 21-16.

The Falcons got a good kickoff return to the Rock Hill 47 and used nine plays to score as Jordan ran one yard to put Minford in front again at 22-21.

Rock Hill then drove to the Minford 29 only to fumble the ball away.

Minford ate some clock before punting and Rock Hill had the ball at its own 9-yard line. The Redmen got the ball to the 16 before turning it over on downs.

Rock Hill hosts Northwest next Friday.

Minford           3          6          7          6          =          22

Rock Hill         3          12        6          0          =          21

First Quarter

Mi — Talen Coriell 41 field goal

RH — Brady Floyd 26 field goal

Second Quarter

Mi — Kelton Kelley 6 run (kick blocked)

RH — Logan Hankins 5 run (kick failed)

RH — Brayden Friend 1 run (run failed)

Third Quarter

Mi — Breyan Tilley 64 punt return (Talen Coriell kick)

RH — Cameron Barnette 1 run (pass failed)

Fourth Quarter

Mi — Darius Jordan 1 run (run failed)

——

Min     RH

First downs     12        17

Rushes-yards  39-202 57-257

Passing yards  86        9

Total yards      288      266

Cmp-Att-Int    8-15-0 2-3-0

Fumbles-lost   1-0       1-1

Penalties-yards            7-45     2-10

Punts-average  3-34.0  1-36.0

——

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Minford: Kelton Kelley 12-78, Darius Jordan 12-61, Mason Bricker 11-34, Breydan Tilley 3-27, Casey Gaines 1-2; Rock Hill: Zak Adkins 16-205, Cameron Barnette 24-123, Logan Hankins 13-33, Brayden Friend 4-7.

PASSING — Minford: Kelton Kelley 8-15-0 86; Rock Hill: Brayden Friend 2-3-0 9.

RECEIVING — Minford: Caleb Dunahm 1-20, Tres Spradlin 1-2, Ty WIget 1-0, Colton McQuate 2-24, Breydan Tilley 1-8, Jordan Bowen 1-18, Darius Jordan 1-9; Rock Hill: Zak Adkins 2-9.