Burlington Central slips to 0-3
ROCKFORD - A slow start and a few big plays did in Burlington Central. Rockford Lutheran scored 3 times in the first quarter on the way to a 31-6 nonconference victory Friday night.
After the first quarter, the Rockets' defense held in check the Crusaders' passing game triggered by quarterback Payton Womack. On the night, Womack completed 6 of 12 for 101 yards, but only 11 of those yards came after the first quarter, and none came after halftime.
The Crusaders' scores came on plays of 26, 35, 45, and 68 yards, including an interception return.
Three of those came early. On the game's first possession, Womack found Equavion Dismuke on a short pass across the middle and Dismuke turned it into a 26-yard score. On the next play, Demarian Jordan picked off the Rockets' Cameron Kaldenberger and returned it 35 yards to pay dirt. Later in the quarter, Womack found Jordan on a swing pass and he wove his way through up the field all the way to the end zone.
The Rockets' defense stiffened after that. They held the Crusaders out of the end zone for 24 minutes, allowing only Jon Anderson's short field goal.
"That's the second week in a row where we started slow," said Central coach Brian Melvin. "It goes down to what we do in practice, and that's what we're trying to fix right now. We're close. I was really happy with our effort tonight."
The Crusaders (1-2) had one more big play in store. In the fourth quarter, Womack kept the ball and raced around left end 68 yards for a score.
The Rockets, though, answered with the longest play of the night. Dionte Smith headed straight up the middle, broke through the line, and raced untouched the rest of the way for a 76-yard score. That play accounted for nearly half of the Rockets' 166 rushing yards, and about a third of their 207 total yards.
Johnny DiCostanzo, who took over at quarterback in the second quarter, completed 8 of 18 but for just 33 yards. He also ran for 31 yards. Smith finished with 122 yards on just 15 carries.
After that first quarter, the Rockets' defense swarmed all over Womack. In the final 36 minutes, he completed just 3 of 9 for 11 yards, and was sacked twice, by Samuel Esterly and Nathan Figurski.
The Rockets had a couple of chances to get closer. After Smith's score, Central recovered an onside kick. They reached the Lutheran 29 but were stopped on downs. The Rockets' final possession reached the Crusaders' 41-yard line before time ran out.
With the Rockets' quarterbacks unable to find anything open downfield it was tough to move the ball. That allowed the Crusaders to tee off on the Central ground game, which netted just 46 yards in the first half.