Rocklin runs hot in win over Oak Ridge, locks down playoff seed in regular-season finale
At the end of Friday night’s win on the road in El Dorado Hills, Rocklin head coach Jason Adams didn’t avoid the old Gatorade bath.
He admittedly runs hot on game nights, so he was unfazed by the combination of a wet shirt and a chilly night — especially after his Thunder earned a cool 21-17 win over Oak Ridge in the regular-season finale.
“Measuring ourselves against (Oak Ridge) is a great opportunity in life,” Adams said. “You want to measure yourself against those who are equal to or better (than yourself), and that’s how we hold them in regard. Then you can say, ‘Hey, we belong in those conversations.’
“We don’t do a lot of boasting, so when we get a chance to prove we belong, it’s reaffirming for us.”
Nate Martin’s 7-yard touchdown run gave Rocklin the go-ahead lead with 1:24 left to play. After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Thunder surrendered 17 consecutive points to the Trojans until Martin’s timely score.
Gavin Correia then intercepted an Oak Ridge pass during the Trojans’ final drive to seal the ninth win of the season for the Thunder, who claimed a second-place finish in the Sierra Foothill League at 4-1.
“Last drive, our defense got a stop, trusted our plan, ran the ball and scored,” Correia said. “I was just sitting on an out route. He threw it, and I jumped it. It was an exciting play.”
Both teams had their share of exciting plays early in the game. Oak Ridge’s defense held Rocklin on a goal-line stand on the Thunder’s opening drive. However, pitted at their own 1-yard line to start the ensuing drive, a bad snap led to a Trojan fumble, which was recovered by Rocklin’s Alex Durham in the end zone for a 7-0 Thunder start.
On Rocklin’s next possession, quarterback Reeve Slone picked up where he left off last week (five total touchdowns in a triple-overtime win against Granite Bay). Slone boosted Rocklin to a 14-0 lead after an 86-yard TD burst at the 2:13 mark of the first quarter.
Oak Ridge responded with an 80-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard run from Erick Orme Jr. early in the second quarter. Oak Ridge entered Friday second in the Sac-Joaquin Section with 35.5 sacks as a team to go along with 101.5 tackles for loss. The Trojan defense registered sacks from Gavin Molloy, Markus Hoffman and Cade Fair, allowing the Oak Ridge offense to tie the score at 14 with a 4-yard TD connection from Joaquin Graves-Mercado to Jadon Anderson before halftime.
After missing a 49-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter, Oak Ridge kicker Alex Henslee booted a season-long 38-yarder on the first play of the fourth, giving the Trojans 17 unanswered points and a three-point lead.
Both teams traded punts before Rocklin’s final drive needed just 44 yards to reach pay dirt. Martin’s touchdown run on a reverse handoff put the Thunder up for good.
“A lot of predictions had us losing this game,” Correia said. “So to prove everyone wrong — people have been underrating us all season — it just meant a lot to us to finish 9-1.”
Entering the final week of the regular season, top-ranked Folsom was the only team to have defeated both Rocklin and Oak Ridge. Each team now awaits its Sac-Joaquin Section playoff seeding, which will be released Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve been telling our guys since we got our fourth win that we’re in play-in mode,” Adams said. “Are we gonna play ourselves into a one (seed) or are we gonna play ourselves into a seven (seed)? The last two games have really been great for us because we’ve had to find a way to win at the end.”
Both Rocklin (9-1, 4-1 SFL) and Oak Ridge (8-2, 3-2 SFL) are expected to get a first-round bye in their respective brackets. The Trojans will seek their sixth overall section banner and the first since 2019, while the Thunder look to add to its lone football championship from 2009.
