Today’s Four Questions interviewee is Rockmart coach Biff Parson, whose team defeated North Cobb Christian 24-21 after trailing 21-3 at halftime. The victory was Rockmart’s 56th straight in region play, the state’s longest active streak of its kind. Rockmart, the Class 2A runner-up last season, now leads Region 7 with a 5-0 record with three region games remaining. North Cobb Christian had been the only other Region 7 team without a region loss.
1. Down 21-3 at halftime, what was the locker room like, what was the message? “Obviously we had to make some adjustments because what we were doing in the first half wasn’t working. Our coaches did a good job of keeping kids engaged because you could tell it was a little dead in the locker room. There was the initial shock of how we played in the first half, and a lot of that had to do with North Cobb Christian. They’re a really good football team. But there was some second-guessing, some disbelief. We started talking about momentum and just getting this game to the fourth quarter to give us an opportunity to come back. We told them to close their eyes and visualize it because you’ve got to believe it’s going to happen. As a coach, you just try to give them some belief. It just takes a couple of moments to change the momentum back, and you never know how that’s going to happen in this game of football.”
2. What was the turning point in the second half? “I thought it was a play that our kicker made [punter Riley Gober]. We moved the ball in the third quarter, but we had to punt it. We had some penalties that backed us up, so we punted them inside the 10-yard line. Our defense made them go three-and-out. Our defense had not been doing well [North Cobb Christian didn’t punt in the first half], so that was big. We got the football back [at the North Cobb Christian 45] and went down and scored a touchdown. We told them about momentum. That got the crowd back into the game and gave us some hope.”
3. Nick Davis, your running back/linebacker, had an outstanding game, scoring all three of your touchdowns. What would you want people to know about him? “He was at a different level Friday night. A funny story is that two years ago he was an offensive lineman for us just because of what we do [wing-T offense] and him pulling and kicking out because he’s athletic. Then we had a couple of injuries and put him at linebacker. He’s always been a high-IQ player. He had one of those nights Friday – carried it 27 times for 155 yards and three touchdowns and had around nine tackles with a forced fumble and one interception. That’s a pretty good stat line there for a junior football player. He’s been our bell cow. What separates him is just his passion for the game. He’s not that big, but he’s sneaky fast, and he’s worked hard in the weight room to lose some weight and put good weight back on. On defense, he’s a thumper. He’s our hardest hitter, no question.” [His strip fumble from behind set up the winning drive and touchdown, which he scored].
4. Rockmart has won 56 straight region games. What does that streak mean to the team and the community? “To be honest, and this is coach’s talk I know, but I don’t know if our kids know about the winning streak except for what they read on social media. I didn’t know about it. I knew we had a streak, but I couldn’t tell you how many. But my 12-year-old [Max], a sixth grader, did come up to me the morning of the game and said, ‘You know this winning streak is on the line. What happens if you lose?’ Here’s what I said about the winning streak: ‘Everything is meant to be broken. I hope it doesn’t happen tonight.’ It’s important to the community, and we had two close games that could’ve broken it [Rockmart beat Ringgold in overtime last month], but it doesn’t cross my mind during games, and I don’t know that it crosses our kids’ minds. We don’t talk about those things. We keep to ourselves in our area of Polk County and just try to be the best football team we can be. One day it will come to an end. Calhoun had one over 100, and there’s probably 15 that have done better than we have, but we’re going to try to keep it going as long as we can now that it’s being talked about.”
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