After wild first half, Westside comeback attempt falls just short in Round 2 loss to No. 1 Rockmart

After a zany first half and a near-miracle comeback in the final minutes, the No. 16 Westside Seminoles failed to keep up with the No. 1 Rockmart Yellowjackets and lost 37-30 on the road Friday night in Round 2 of the GHSA 2A state playoffs.

About two hours away from home, the Seminoles surprised the Rockmart faithful by scoring first and keeping pace with the Yellowjackets during a chaotic opening two quarters — the two teams both had fumble recovery touchdowns and also had back-to-back kick return touchdowns at one point.

It looked like Rockmart had pulled away late when they had a 34-21 lead, but Westside scored with about two minutes remaining before a bad snap on a Yellowjackets punt gave the Seminoles one last chance to tie the game up.

With less than 30 seconds on the clock, a seemingly wide-open touchdown pass to KD Iverson fell just short and incomplete on third down before a fourth down pass fell flat as well, sealing the win for Rockmart and ending Westside’s season.

The plucky Seminoles ended up with a 6-6 record including playoffs this year under longtime head coach Spoon Risper. Iverson paced the offense at running back, breaking a school record with his 31 total touchdowns.

Tristan Houston was perhaps the MVP of the Round 2 loss, though, returning a kick about 80 yards for a touchdown while also making several crucial catches and snagging a receiving touchdown during Westside’s last-gasp drives in the fourth quarter.

Plenty of chaos and a near-comeback

The Seminoles got the ball to start things off after the Yellowjackets deferred. After some solid Iverson runs it looked like Westside could get something going. The ‘Noles even overcame a pre-snap penalty to get a first down and reach midfield, but the drive stalled and they punted it back to Rockmart.

Westside stifled the Jackets on the ensuing drive, making a tackle behind the sticks and stopping a third down pass to force a three and out. 

The Seminoles defense then took the hot start to the next level, blocking the Rockmart punt and setting themselves up on the 5-yardline. Iverson punched it in with the help of an entourage of blockers, and Westside had a 7-0 lead just a few minutes into the game.

The Seminoles did not fare as well on the next drive, however, as Rockmart gashed them with chunk runs and passes before receiver Tristan Anderson hauled in a roughly 30-yard touchdown pass with ease to knot the game up at 7-7.

After Iverson was again stuffed on some rushing attempts, the Seminoles attempted their first pass of the game on the next drive. 

The play showed the reason Westside has leaned so much on Iverson’s stellar ability this year — quarterback James Neville rolled to his right and tried to pass but let the ball slip, giving Rockmart linebacker Luke Clay the chance to scoop it up and take it all the way to the house and give the Yellowjackets the lead.

Though they did block the point after, the Seminoles were down 13-7 in demoralizing fashion after scoring first. Even in the early going, they needed a big momentum swing.

Westside got one on the ensuing drive. After an out-of-bounds kick gave them decent field position, the ‘Noles faced a third and 12 from around midfield. On a slow-developing, play-action call, Neville made up for his earlier mistake by taking a shot downfield to receiver Syveon Hodges over the top.

With almost the entire Rockmart defense fooled and looking for the run, Hodges beat the secondary and hauled in the pass to give Westside a 14-13 lead. The play silenced the raucous clanging of cowbells by the Yellowjackets fans and showed that the Seminoles could pass when they needed to.

Nate Davis would have none of it, though, manufacturing a Rockmart drive almost single-handedly thanks to some timely runs. The back eventually punched it in from short-range to finish the drive and put the Yellowjackets back up, 20-14.

The chaos continued on the very next play, as Westside’s Tristan Houston showed off his speed with a kick return of about 80 yards for the touchdown to give the ‘Noles the lead right back in thrilling fashion. With eight minutes still left to play in the first half, it was 21-20 Westside.

It got even crazier moments later — on the ensuing kickoff, Anderson fielded the ball at about the 15-yardline and took it all the way thanks to some great blocking from his Rockmart teammates. After the two key plays in a 20-second span of game clock, the Yellowjackets led 27-21.

Luckily for everyone’s nerves, the rest of the first half was scoreless as both teams traded empty drives.

The Jackets got the ball to start the second half. It looked like Westside would stop Rockmart to get the ball back with a chance to take the lead again, but Anderson made another great play by reaching over a defender for a first down grab to extend a drive. Cortez Wright finished off the drive in the end zone from about 10 yards out a few plays later to put the Jackets up 34-21.

The Seminoles finally got the run game going with Iverson and Neville on their next drive. But after making it all the way to the 7-yardline, the Seminoles could not convert on a fourth-and-3 run play and turned it over on downs without scoring.

Westside salvaged some of the lost momentum with a safety, though, pinning the Yellowjackets in the endzone to make it 34-23 and get the ball back with about four minutes left in the third quarter.

The Seminoles again got some solid runs on the next possession but ultimately could not string together enough plays to score. With time running out, Rockmart chewed clock with a long rush-heavy sequence before eventually settling for a field goal from inside the 10-yardline.

Westside managed a nice drive thanks to crucial catches from Houston — he made multiple first down grabs and eventually reeled in a the touchdown pass to finish the drive.

The score at first seemed hollow with such little time left, but the following kickoff downed Rockmart at their own 5-yardline and the Seminoles managed to force a fourth down by using their timeouts.

Then disaster struck for the Yellowjackets: the snap on the ensuing punt went awry. Though the punter luckily corralled it and managed to throw an incompletion to avoid a touchdown for the Seminoles, the play still gave Westside the ball at the Rockmart 18-yardline with a shockingly good chance to even the score with about a minute left.

After a 1-yard Neville scramble and an incompletion, it looked on third down like the ‘Noles quarterback had — who else — KD Iverson opened on a wheel route in the middle of the field. The wide-open pass fell short, though, forcing fourth down. 

When Rockmart brought pressure again, the play folded. Neville threw another incompletion, just missing the end zone and sealing the win for the Yellowjackets.