After most of the first half was played in sunshine, Rich East and Gary Roosevelt had their game called after halftime due to a thunderstorm.
The damage Mother Nature might have done was nothing compared to what the Rich East’s offense did in raining on the Panthers’ homecoming, with East getting touchdowns from three players en route to a 40-6 win in Gary.
“Right now we have a couple of things we have to fix,” Panthers quarterback Dontae Young said. “We need to improve on our defense and we need better quarterback play. I need to make better decisions.”
Young could have added better play on special teams to his wish list because the first Rockets’ TD was set up by a blocked Roosevelt punt. B.J. Stewart scored from 4 yards out for East and then scored again with a 48-yarder on the next possession.
“It was a good victory for us. We came out and executed a few things well,” said Rich East coach Barry Reade, who also got two TDs each from Marcel McDonald and Kendall Miller. “We ran the ball well and got a few turnovers on defense. We did what we came here to do, which is win [going] interconference play next week.”
Defensively, Rich East (4-0) held Roosevelt to only 56 yards and two first downs in the two quarters. The first came with 3:15 left in the half, the second produced a 15-yard passing TD for Roosevelt (1-3), with Young hitting Ronald White Jr.
“We just messed up on defense,” White said about Roosevelt allowing 214 yards, all on the ground. “This loss is tough because I have high expectations for my team, but we’ll just look forward to next week’s game and keep working hard.”
