The Forrest Rockets travelled to Lynchburg Friday night where they picked up their third road win of the season, pounding Moore County 35-14 at Doug Price Field.

“They are a physical team, they play hard, they don’t have very many players, but they play hard from the first whistle to the last and that says a lot to coach (Jason) Dobbs, who is doing a good over here with his program and it is great to get this rivalry back going,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said.

Senior Nick McClendon ran roughshod over the Raiders, rushing for 318 yards and three touchdowns and catching one pass that went for a 50-yard score.

McClendon, who averaged 15.9 yards per carry in the contest came within 13 yards of setting Forrest’s all-time single game rushing mark set by his brother Zach versus Cornersville in 2014.

“The crowd is always hostile here, I always love the atmosphere, we have been rivals since I was four years old and luckily we came away with a ‘W’ tonight,” McClendon said. “I feel like we didn’t have our best game as a team tonight, our first half was a little shaky, but we made some halftime adjustments and started moving the ball and once we scored that last touchdown they were done.”

The Rockets won the opening coin toss and faced a first-and-20 after a holding call and a personal foul set them back.

McClendon busted a big run deep into Moore County territory and four plays later, Cole Villazon capped off the drive with a 23-yard touchdown run and Zoe Long banged the extra point boot to make it 7-0 with 9:50 remaining in the first quarter.

After the ensuing kickoff, Villazon came up with an interception on Moore County’s first offensive play and the Rockets took over at the Raiders’ 46-yard line.

Villazon kept the drive alive with a first down run on a fourth down play to the Moore County 35-yard line and on the next snap, Rocket quarterback Max Kirby found Spencer McCown for a 20-yard gain to the 15-yard line.

A McClendon run and a Moore County personal foul gave Forrest the ball at the 6-yard line and McClendon made it 13-0 on the next play when he busted in for a touchdown.

Long’s extra point boot was true for a 14-0 Rocket lead with 6:40 left in the first quarter.

The Raiders needed a score and they got it when they drove 75 yards on seven plays, capped off by a Brayden Cashion 9-yard run and the extra point kick by Chase Bradford.

The Rockets next drive was halted on a fourth down stop and the Raiders were back in business as they drove the rock all the way to the Forrest 3-yard line where they faced a fourth-and-goal.

Moore County tried some trickery as they went to a reverse, but the Rockets’ defense was ready and snuffed out the play to take over on downs with 7:01 remaining in the first half.

It only took them four running plays to get to midfield and from there, Kirby tossed a pass to McClendon out of the backfield and he weaved his way downfield, getting a crushing block by Joel Burton that sprung him for the score and the Rockets led 21-7 with 3:23 left in the first half.

The Raiders dug in, needing a score to stay close and they drove to the Forrest 44-yard line where Noah Hill broke through the line and put pressure on Cashion on a third down incompletion to set up a fourth-and-9.

Moore County had to go for it and converted when Cashion found tight end Bryson Dobbs, who picked up the first down and on the next play, Cashion tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Scruggs on a wheel route.

Bradford’s extra point kick was good and the Raiders trailed 21-14 at the half.

The Raiders got the ball to begin the second half and faced a third-and-four play from their own 35-yard line where Layne Strasser and McAllister Wilson sandwiched Cashion in the backfield to force a punt.

After the punt Forrest went backwards as a delay of game and holding call put the Rockets in a second-and-21 hole, but McClendon took a handoff and ran through a big hole on the left and down the sidelines for a 55-yard touchdown.

Long’s extra point boot doubled up the score at 28-14 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

The Forrest defense held again to force another Moore County punt, but could not extend their lead and a subsequent blocked punt by the Raiders gave them some hope and the ball at the Chapel Hill 16-yard line.

The Raiders’ hopes faded quickly as they fumbled on a bad snap from center inside the Forrest 5-yard line and Strasser recovered for the Rockets.

The third quarter ended and the Rockets were only able to move the ball to about the Moore County 17-yard line where they punted with 10:11 remaining in the contest.

The Raiders had good field position, two yards inside the 50-yard line, but gave it right back to the Rockets when Burton stepped in front of a Cashion pass and picked it off.

“It felt good, it was like the stamp when I knew we were going to win,” Burton said. “I was supposed to be on the blitz and whenever I rode down he started rolling my way and I kind of backed up and he didn’t notice I was there, so I just jumped up and caught it.”

Three plays in to Forrest’s drive, Hayden Carter picked off Kirby and the Raiders took over at the Chapel Hill 43-yard line with 7:06 remaining in the game.

Moore County drove to the 27-yard line and faced a fourth-and-four when a pass was knocked down in the middle of the field and Forrest took over.

Four plays later McClendon put the nail in the coffin when he raced 51 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-14 with just under three minutes to play.

The Rockets kicked off, Moore County fumbled the ball, and Christian Hammond recovered to seal the win for Forrest.

“They (Moore County) got back to the basics tonight and ran power and hit us in the mouth in the first half,” Stephenson said. “In the second half we were able to come out and stalemate it and our defense with our bend but don’t break was great tonight and that says a lot to our kids and coach (Matthew) Delk on that side of the ball.”

Forrest (4-0, 1-0) moved up two spots to number seven in this week’s AP Top 10 Poll and hosts Loretto (2-1, 0-0) Friday night in a Homecoming matchup with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill.

The Rockets won 32-13 last year at Loretto and 56-26 at home in 2017 versus the Region 5AA foe Mustangs.

“Next week is very big for us, we have to get a win for Homecoming,” Stephenson said. “If you don’t get that Homecoming win you don’t have a good year for the people at home.”

“We have a good team coming in with Loretto, they are a lot better than last year, so we have to have a good week of practice and just come out and execute and play our game.”

Forrest 14 7 7 7-35

Moore County 7 7 0 0-14

Scoring

First Quarter

Forrest-Cole Villazon 23-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 9:50.

Forrest-Nick McClendon 6-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 6:40.

Moore County-Brayden Cashion 9-yard run, Chase Bradford PAT.

Second Quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 50-yard pass from Max Kirby, Zoe Long PAT, 7:01.

Moore County-Dylan Scruggs 22-yard pass from Brayden Cashion, Chase Bradford PAT, 0.35.

Third Quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 51-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 7:34.

Fourth Quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 51-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 0.48.

Stats

Total Offense: Forrest 503, Moore County 381.

Rushing: Forrest 374, Moore County 298.

Passing: Forrest 129, Moore County 83.

First Downs: Forrest 16, Moore County10.

Turnovers: Forrest 1, Moore County 4.

Penalties: Forrest 10-100, Moore County 4-35.

Forrest

Rushing: Nick McClendon 20-318-2TD, Cole Villazon 11-45-TD, Blaize Sweeney 3-14, Aiden Freeman 1-1, Hunter Pendley 1-1, Max Kirby 5-(-4).

Passing: Max Kirby 6-9-129-TD-INT.

Receiving: Spencer McCown 2-60, Nick McClendon 1-50-TD, Charlie Edmonson 1-9, Aiden Freeman 1-8, Cole Villazon 1-2.

Kicking

PAT: Zoe Long 5-5.

Returns

Kickoffs: Cole Villazon 4-20.

Punts: Spencer McCown 3-18.

Defense

Tackles: Noah Hill 9, Nick McClendon 9 (.5 SACK), Joel Burton 8 (INT), Blaize Sweeney 8, Tate Garvin 7 (SACK), Spencer McCown 7 (.5 SACK), Sammy Williams 6, Cole Villazon 5 (INT), Layne Bowman 4, Max Kirby 4, Layne Strasser (.5 SACK, FUM REC), Christian Hammond (FUM REC), McAllister Wilson (.5 SACK).