The Forrest Rockets hosted their namesakes from Rockvale Friday night in jamboree action at Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field and the Chapel Hill squad took a 34-7 win over the first year Murfreesboro school.

It was just the second scrimmage for the 6A Rockvale squad that brought upwards of 110 players to the jamboree, mostly freshmen and sophomores, a fair amount of juniors, and just a couple seniors.

Rockvale has approximately 1,600 students already enrolled and plays in Region 3 with Blackman, Coffee County, Cookeville, Oakland, Riverdale, Siegel, and Warren County.

Forrest dressed approximately 40 players for the jamboree and was coming off a solid performance versus Macon County.

The Rockets continued the improvement process versus Rockvale as the varsity squad recorded a 20-7 halftime lead before playing the junior varsity in the second half.

The Forrest varsity displayed a balanced attack on offense, rushing the ball 23 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns while passing the pigskin for 59 yards and one touchdown in the first half.

Senior Nick McClendon led the ground attack with 10 rushing attempts for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

McClendon had six rushes for over 10 yards, including touchdown runs of 27 and 11 yards.

Blaize Sweeney ran for 57 yards on just four touches, including a big 42-yard run.

Cole Villazon had 42 yards on seven carries while quarterback Max Kirby and Aden Freeman had one carry for one yard with Kirby’s run producing a first down on a fourth-down quarterback sneak.

Kirby also had a solid night in the passing attack, completing 4-of-6 passes for 59 yards and one touchdown.

Spencer McCown had one catch for 33 yards, Freeman caught one ball for two yards, and Joel Burton had two receptions for 24 yards and one touchdown.

Both teams had one lost fumble with Austin Raye recovering for Rockvale while Burton recovered the rock for Forrest.

Forrest took the opening kickoff and had the ball for almost half the first quarter, but failed to score after Kirby hooked up with McCown for a 33-yard pass to the Rockvale five-yard line.

A double personal foul after the play moved the Rockets way back and they even got another chance to score after a pass interference call gave them a third-and-8 at the 9-yard line before fumbling the ball away with 6:58 remaining in the first quarter.

The Rocket defense held firm, forcing a three-and-out and a punt that was returned five yards by Villazon to the Rockvale 31-yard line.

Three plays later, McClendon took the rock to the house from 27 yards out and Zoe Long drilled the PAT to make it 7-0 with 3:42 remaining in the first quarter.

Rockvale came up with good field position at their own 48-yard line on the kickoff and needed just four plays to find the end zone, completed by a 7-yard touchdown run by Aiden Falcone.

The PAT was good and the game was tied at 7 with 2:13 left in the first quarter.

The Rockets started at their own 39-yard after the ensuing kickoff and marched to the Rockvale 40-yard when the first quarter expired.

McClendon ran for 14 yards for a first down on the initial play of the second quarter before Sweeney picked up a loose ball in the backfield and rambled nine yards.

On the next snap, Kirby found Burton on a slant and the senior tight end found the end zone for a score.

Long’s PAT try was wide left and the Rockets led 13-7 with 10:33 remaining in the first half.

On the first play after the kickoff, Sammy Williams busted through the Rockvale offensive line and sacked the quarterback, who fumbled and Burton recovered at the 25-yard line.

Kirby passed for two yards to Freeman on first down and Villazon ran for one on second down before Burton came up with a diving catch for seven yards and a first down at the 17-yard line.

Forrest ran the ball three straight times for nine yards before Kirby picked up the first down on the fourth down quarterback sneak and after a false start moved the ball back to the 11-yard line, McClendon took off around the corner for a touchdown.

Long booted the PAT and Forrest led 20-7.

Rockvale put together a drive that came to a third-and-13 at the 45-yard line when a Sweeney sack followed by a fourth-down incompletion ended the drive.

Forrest ran the ball two times before the first half ended with Chapel Hill in front 20-7.

The two teams played junior varsity in the second half and Forrest outplayed Rockvale by a score 14-0 with Brenton Burchell scoring on a 45-yard run and Hunter Pendley scored on an 8-yard run.

Tayton Swift ran in the PAT after the Burchell TD.

Forrest opens up the regular season at East Robertson on Friday with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. in Cross Plains.

Rockvale 7 0 0 0-7

Forrest 7 13 14 0-34