In a much-anticipated season opener because of trepidation over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Forrest Rockets entertained East Robertson Friday on a rainy night at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill and came away with a hard fought 10-0 win over the Indians.

“It’s always special playing under the lights on Friday night,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “The players have worked hard in the offseason, and it was good to see their hard work pay off.”

Forrest scored all 10 of its points in the second quarter before the skies opened in a deluge that lasted the entire second half, essentially playing right in to the hands of the Rockets as they executed a pound and ground strategy in an effort to hold on to the wet pigskin and limit the athleticism of East Robertson standout Taylor Groves.

Groves lined up at multiple positions, but was mostly held in check, carrying the ball just five times for a measly eight yards, while catching three passes for 36 yards.

Groves also had a long touchdown catch called back on a costly penalty.

The Rockets’ defense held the Indians to just 58 total yards in the contest, while Rockets amassed 143 yards with 94 coming in the ground game as they ran the ball 48 times on the soggy night.

Sophomore Tayton Swift led the Rockets in rushing with 12 carries for 45 yards and senior Aden Freeman had 10 touches for 33 yards.

“We have to fine tune our running game this week, we made some mistakes and Swift did run the ball hard,” Stephenson said.

Max Kirby led all players in the contest with 72 total yards, rushing the rock 12 times for 23 yards and the senior quarterback completed 3 of 6 passes for 49 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.

“Kirby leads by his actions and vocally,” Stephenson said. “He was encouraging our players to pick up their game, and he picked up his game.”

Summer Pennsylvania transfer Boston Follis had a big inaugural night for the Rockets as the senior looked good on both sides of the ball.

“Boston Follis has the ability and body type to play multiple positions on offense and defense,” Stephenson said. “We are glad to have him.”

Follis rushed for eight yards in the contest and came up with Forrest’s lone trip in to the end zone when he made a sliding catch on a Kirby strike for a 25-yard second quarter touchdown.

East Robertson won the opening coin toss and elected to receive, but the Indians’ drive was quickly halted when Forrest sophomore Micah McClendon came up with a diving interception on a third-and-sixteen play.

Unfortunately, the Rockets gave the ball right back when they fumbled on a third-down play.

Both teams had two more drives to finish the first quarter and in to the start of the second period with all ending up in punts, but on Forrest’s second punt attempt, the ball was fumbled and the Indians had the game’s first scoring opportunity when they recovered the ball at the Rockets’ 10-yard line.

The Rockets’ defense held firm, stopping East Robertson on three straight plays before Braden Jones recovered a fumble at the Forrest 19-yard line with 8:45 remaining in the second quarter.

Forrest finally cranked up some serious offense, putting together a 16-play drive that included four first downs on third down runs by Freeman, Kirby, and Swift and a fourth-down conversion via a Kirby quarterback sneak.

Swift’s run was last of the four first down rushes and it gave the Rockets the ball, at the East Robertson 27-yard line.

Swift gained two yards on first down and then Stephenson called timeout to talk about the strategy and it paid off when Kirby found Follis streaking across the field in the end zone where he made the sliding catch for the score with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter.

“On that drive we were able to get the running game going a little bit,” Stephenson said. “They started to cheat up and we were able to hit them over the top.”

Baker drilled the PAT to make it 7-0 and then kicked off and East Robertson made a fair catch at the 20-yard line.

On the next play, the Indians went deep as Collin Cook heaved the long ball to Groves, who hauled it in and raced in to the end zone for an apparent touchdown, but the big play was called back on an ineligible player downfield penalty.

Three plays later, the Indians punted and it was not a good one as the Rockets took over at the East Robertson 34-yard line with 43 seconds remaining in the first half.

Kirby tossed a pass to Joseph Whitaker out of the backfield and the senior alertly ran out of bounds to stop the clock.

A handoff to Freeman gained one yard and Stephenson called timeout with 16 seconds left.

Forrest tried for the touchdown pass, but it was incomplete and Baker came in for his first ever varsity field goal attempt.

There was no doubt! The kick was true, splitting the uprights from 36 yards out and the Rockets led 10-0 at the half and held all the momentum.

“It did change the momentum when Baker came in and drilled it,” Stephenson said. “That will get him a lot of confidence.”

Moments before the second half kickoff, the skies opened up and it poured for the rest of the game.

The Rockets took the kick and gained one first down on the initial second half drive, but burned a fair amount of time off the clock doing so, running on every down.

After a Baker punt, East Robertson ran three plays and had to punt after losing big yardage on a first down play when the ball was snapped 20 yards over the quarterback’s head.

Groves, the Indians regular punter, took the snap and took off running on the fake, but was tackled by a host of Rocket defenders on the sideline and Forrest took over on downs.

They gave the ball right back on a fumble, but turned the tables again when Cook took off and Follis and Hunter Pendley sandwiched the Indians signal caller to knock the ball loose and senior defensive tackle Reese Thrasher snatched the pigskin out of the air and the Rockets took over with 4:47 remaining in the third quarter.

“They (defense) played physical and swarmed to the ball all night long,” Stephenson said. “When we do that good things happen.”

“A couple of times their backs were against the wall, they stepped up and answered the call.”

The Rockets gained one first down on a Kirby pass to McCalister Wilson, but were forced to punt moments later.

The snap was bad and Baker had to lay on it, giving East Robertson the ball at the Forrest 49-yard line.

Hayden Swearingen ran for six yards on first down to end the third quarter and the Indians moved the ball to the Forrest 20-yard line where they had a first down, but could only gain five yards on the next four plays and the Rockets took over on downs with just over six minutes to play in the contest.

“They (defense) did an awesome job all night long,” Stephenson said. “They played fast and physical.”

“They were ball hawks, forcing three turnovers. They helped get the offense and special teams out of a jam.”

Chapel Hill ran three plays and punted the ball away and the Indians could not muster any offense and Forrest came away with the shutout win.

The Rockets, who came out of the opener in good shape on the injury front, travel to Portland this week (Thursday night) to take on the Panthers, who got blasted by Westview 47-6 at home in their season opener.

“It is always great getting a win Week 1, but we made a lot of mistakes in all three phases of the game,” Stephenson said. “We got to keep getting better each week.”

Forrest beat the Panthers 37-22 at “The Rock” last year.

East Robertson 0 0 0 0-0

Forrest 0 10 0 0-10

Scoring Plays

Second Quarter

Forrest-Boston Follis 25-yard pass from Max Kirby, Carson Baker PAT, 1:18.

Forrest-Carson Baker 36-yard field goal, 0.09.

Total Offense: Forrest 143, East Robertson 58.

Rushing: Forrest 48-94, East Robertson 28-22.

Passing: Forrest 49, East Robertson 36.

First Downs: Forrest 10, East Robertson 34.

Turnovers: Forrest 3, East Robertson 3.

Penalties: Forrest 4-35, East Robertson 5-35.

Forrest Offense

Rushing: Tayton Swift 12-45, Aiden Freeman 10-33, Max Kirby 12-23, Hunter Pendley 5-10, Boston Follis 2-8, Micah McClendon 2-5, Joseph Whitaker 3-2, Christian Hammond 2-(-32).

Passing: Max Kirby 3-6-49-TD-0 INT.

Receiving: Boston Follis 1-25-TD, McCalister Wilson 1-18, Joseph Whitaker 1-6.

Kicking

PAT: Carson Baker 1-1.

Field Goals: Carson Baker 1-1-38 yards.

Interceptions: Micah McClendon.

Fumble Recoveries: Boston Follis, Reese Thrasher.