Richard Montgomery Can't Keep Up with Clarksburg

A feisty defense kept the Richard Montgomery Rockets close for most of the game, but the team faded down the stretch and lost to Clarksburg, 28-6, on Friday night in Rockville.

Clarksburg moved the ball well in the first half. However, once they moved inside the red zone, the Rockets defense buckled down.

Two out of three times in the first quarter, kept Clarksburg out of the end zone and forced them to turn the ball over on downs.

“We played very tough tonight,” Richard Montgomery head coach Neal Owens said. “I'm proud of our guys. We fought hard.”

Richard Montgomery forced an interception late in the first half after pressuring quarterback Mike Sheehan. The Rockets were able to run a few quick plays before getting a touchdown run 30 seconds before halftime to cut the lead to 14-6.

The Rockets kept Clarksburg off the board for the entire third quarter, but were unable to score after starting quarterback Steven Burchett suffered an injury to his ribs. Deryck Alexander played well in relief, but his lack of experience showed.

“We played without our starting quarterback for the last three quarters, and that really hurt us,” Owens said. “He's [Alexander] normally our starting wide receiver, so he doesn't get a lot of reps [at quarterback] during the week. But he came in and played tough.”

Clarksburg was able to score twice in the fourth quarter to finally put the game away.

Richard Montgomery was coming off their first win of the season against Poolesville. The victory was their first in two seasons after going winless in 2010. That win, coupled with the hard-fought loss on Friday, has Owens pleased with the direction of the program.

“We're definitely turning the right corner,” Owens said.  “We're heading in the right direction, but we can't be considered a real program until we beat someone we're not supposed to. Wootton counts as that, so we have to come out next week and beat a crosstown rival.”

The Rockets face the Patriots at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at .