Westwood ran the ball 30 times and did not attempt a pass in a 22-6 win in the battle of the Rockets Thursday night in Chapel Hill.

FMS outgained their namesakes by 12 yards in the Duck River Valley Conference matchup, but could not sustain enough drives or come up with the big play when they needed it.

"We just never did get anything going," said FMS head Coach Bart Joyce. "They got a good ball team and came out with a big play on play one and we never responded to it. We laid back on our heels, we had a big play here and there, had some points, but never got to feed off of it and never got it going."

Wins crucial

With their second loss in a row, Forrest fell to 3-2 on the season and 3-1 in league play, keeping their sights set on a berth in the conference title game on Oct. 3.

"Here is the good thing, even though they whipped us, it was our first conference loss," said Joyce. "If we want to make the conference championship, and that is our goal, every game from here is a must win."

Westwood won the opening coin toss and Austin Harmon returned the FMS kick to the visitors' 46-yard line.

From there, the Manchester crew ran it right at Forrest, banging the rock just seven times with Grant Chambers finishing the job from four yards out for the touchdown.

Brent Moon had little trouble on the two-point conversion run, giving Westwood an 8-0 lead with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter.

Working to score

FMS went three and out on their initial drive of the contest, but came up with a big fourth down stop on Westwood on the first play of the second quarter.

Two plays later, Joseph Carrick intercepted a Lane LaPorte pass and it returned it to the 35-yard line.

The Rockets' defense held, thanks to a huge third-down smack by Alan Williams, filling the hole to force a Westwood punt.

The hometown Rockets began to move the football on their next series, moving up to the 48-yard line on four running plays before LaPorte found Bryton Spitzley out the backfield on a pass and dash, all the way down to the Westwood three-yard line.

Spitzley found pay dirt through a huge hole on the next play, making it 8-6, but Westwood stopped the two-point run try cold.

Moon rises

After all the work of getting to within two points, disaster struck when Brent Moon returned the ensuing kickoff 73 yards for a Westwood touchdown.

Moon rose again, running the rock into the end zone for the two-pointer, making it a 16-6 ballgame.

FMS tried to get something going, but an interception by Zach Vaughn on the last play of the half kept the Rockets from Chapel Hill mired in the ten-point hole.

Westwood stopped FMS on three consecutive running plays to begin the second half and a bad snap on the fourth down punt gave Manchester the ball deep in FMS territory at the 19-yard line.

Seven snaps later, Harmon ran the ball to the end zone for a touchdown, making it a 22-6 ballgame with 1:16 remaining in the third quarter.

No comeback

The Rockets turned the ball over on downs near midfield, but got the ball right back when Spiztley fell on a loose ball with 3:42 l3ft in the contest.

Unfortunately, there would be no comeback for Forrest as Westwood held firm to come away with the 16-point victory.

FMS travels to Liberty for another conference battle next Thursday and Joyce said about the big road trip, "We have got to be mentally prepared, we have to be physically prepared and we just got to be ready to play next week and get the job done."