The Forrest Middle School Rockets, coming off a 7-2 season, opened up the new campaign in style Thursday night at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill, blanking the Page Middle School Panthers 24-0.

“I’m very pleased, earlier in the year Liberty left our conference and Page had this week open and I’m grateful for them playing us,” FMS coach Tony Johnson said. “These guys rose to the occasion, Page is a bigger school than us and we have been preaching that for a couple weeks and our guys really stepped it up tonight and did a fantastic job, so I am really proud of them.”

The Rockets controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage in the contest, holding off a strong Panthers’ rushing attack on defense while pounding the ball on offense with a 12.6 yard per rush average.

“Credit to coach (Zach) Russell (Defensive coordinator), our defense was flying around, we were swarming to the ball and they were in the right places at the right time,” Johnson said. “Offensively we had some big plays go for us, so it was a really, really good night.”

FMS toted the rock 17 times for 214 yards and three touchdowns with Tyler Baxter leading way with 79 yards and a touchdown, Ben Villazon was next with 69 yards and one trip to the end zone, and Liam Bell ran for 66 yards and a score.

“It is a run by committee and they are all three number one backs in my book and I’m totally comfortable with giving all three of them the ball,” Johnson said.

Forrest won the opening coin toss and needed just three plays with Baxter scoring on a 51-yard touchdown run down the visitor’s sideline.

The PAT run was no good.

Page’s Jaden Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff to the 44-yard line and the Panthers were stymied twice in the backfield on tackles for loss by Spence Tankersley and early disaster struck moments later when FMS middle linebacker Caleb Kirksey came up with a tipped ball over the middle and raced 37 yards to pay dirt to make it 12-0 with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter, but the Panthers stopped the PAT run again.

“That doesn’t happen very much for a middle linebacker, so it’s great for Caleb Kirksey,” Johnson said. “I’m super proud of him and he had an awesome game tonight.”

Caleb Owens returned the ensuing kickoff to the 40-yard line and on the next offensive snap, Page coughed up the ball and Bell recovered at the 41.

Baxter ran for two yards on first down and Villazon ran for one more yard on second down before taking it to the four-yard line on third down for a first and goal.

Villazon was rewarded for his effort when he took the snap on the next play and scored a touchdown, but Forrest failed in its third attempt at the PAT and led 18-0 with 1:18 left in the first quarter.

Page held the ball for the rest of the first quarter and drove to the FMS 32-yard where they faced a fourth-and-8 when Bell came up with a sack and Tankersley recovered at the Panthers’ 43-yard line with 3:08 remaining in the first half.

Three plays later, Bell took a handoff and beat the Page defense all the way to the end zone to make it a 24-0 contest.

The PAT run was no good for the fourth time in the game.

The first half ended with a tackle in the Page backfield by Blaine Meeks and the Panthers failed to score on the opening possession of the second half on a nice drive that was spoiled on a blocked pass by Bell in the backfield on another fourth down play.

Forrest turned the ball over on downs on its next possession and Page faced a second-and-10 at the FMS 26-yard when the third period expired.

The Panthers shot themselves in the foot when a bad snap ended the drive with another Bell sack.

Forrest fumbled away the ball on the next possession, but Page failed to muster any late offense and the Rockets secured the 24-0 win.

The Rockets travel to Unionville next week to open up the Duck River Valley Conference schedule versus the archrival Community Vikings.

“This was huge confidence booster with Page being a bigger school than us,” Johnson said. “But we have the 24-hour rule and we will get to work tomorrow by watching some film and get ready for Community.”

Page 0 0 0 0-0

FMS 18 6 0 0-24

Forrest Total Offense: Rushing 214, Passing 0.

Rushing: Tyler Baxter 4-79-TD, Ben Villazon 8-69-TD, Liam Bell 5-66-TD.

Passing: Austin Dillon 0-2-0.

Touchdowns: Baxter (Rush), Villazon (Rush), Bell (Rush), Caleb Kirksey (Interception Return).

Fumble Recovery: Bell, Spence Tankersley.

Interception: Kirksey.

Turnovers: Forrest 1, Page 3.

Next Game: Thursday, August 15 at Community, 6:30 p.m.