Nothing can stop the Rockets!

The Forrest Rockets stared down adversity and shrugged it off with a calm resiliency Friday night as they travelled to Summertown for the biggest Region 5-AA game of the year and came away with a gut-wrenching 13-6 win over a very tough Eagles’ squad.

“Summertown is a great football team, they played hard from the first whistle to the last whistle,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “They were physical up front, luckily we were a little bit more physical than them and we came out with the win.”

The Rockets left some points on the board in the first half and trailed Summertown by a field goal entering the third quarter, but back-to-back 80-plus yard second half drives and two big defensive stands secured the win for undefeated Forrest.

The fifth-ranked Rockets (7-0, 3-0) control their destiny as they enter a much-needed bye week before they host Community (1-6, 0-3) on Friday, October 18.

The injury list is deep and extensive with a host of players taking the field with nagging injuries and it keeps growing as junior two-way standout Noah Hill did not play at Summertown due to a torn meniscus.

Senior lineman Alex Allen has been on the shelf for most of the season with a foot injury and on Saturday evening the Rockets received some really bad news as Forrest’s best offensive player and team leader Nick McClendon had to have an appendectomy on Sunday.

Allen is expected back when the Rockets travel to Cascade (2-4) in the next to the last week of the regular season, but for Hill and McClendon the timeline for return is up in the air.

The Rockets finish the regular season slate with a home game versus second place Lewis County (5-1, 2-1), who beat Eagleville 36-28 at Hohenwald Friday night.

The Panthers are also on a bye this week and host Loretto (3-3, 1-2) after the break before road contests at non-region Camden (3-4) and the playoff primer at Forrest in the regular season finale.

McClendon was the workhorse at Summertown, rushing for a 106 tough yards on 16 carries and scoring touchdowns on back-to-back third quarter plays after a holding penalty negated the first score.

McClendon has 1,171 rushing yards on the season and has tallied 14 touchdowns.

“We fought through a lot of adversity through whole game, we had a lot of injuries this week we had to get over,” McClendon said. “It was all about leadership and coming together as a team and we did that and we ended up winning.”

“They were coming after us all night, we were coming at them, it was a dogfight and we won.”

The next man up mentality was on full display versus the Eagles as sophomore Hunter Pendley stepped in the gap for Hill on defense and came up huge in the stout Forrest defensive effort.

“Shout out to Hunter Pendley for coming in out of nowhere and just doing a job, just coming up and getting Hill and helping him out and acting like he wasn’t even there,” Blaize Sweeney said. “That is such a great job by Pendley coming in to a big game like that, all the respects to him, it was great.”

The Rockets’ defense has only given up an average of 6.7 points per game in their three region wins and 11.1 overall for the season.

“Our defense did an awesome job, they held them to six points,” Stephenson said. “They have been doing a great job all year, coach (Matthew) Delk has been doing a great job with them, and they are flying around.”

“We had a couple breaks that didn’t go our way, but we were able to bend but don’t break.”

A 31-yard field goal by Austin Abbott on Summertown’s first drive of the game and another 27-yarder by Abbott in the third quarter was all the points the stingy Forrest defense allowed in the game.

The Summertown defense came up huge in the first half, stopping the Rockets twice on downs and forcing a pair of first half punts as they clung to a 3-0 halftime lead.

The Rockets received the second half kickoff and got pinned deep at their own 17-yard line after misplaying the kick.

Forrest picked up one first down and faced a third-and-one that was converted by McClendon before quarterback Max Kirby found senior wide out Spencer McCown for a first down at the midfield stripe.

Blaize Sweeney rumbled for 13 yards and a pair of McClendon rushes moved the ball to the Summertown 21-yard where McClendon busted a bevy of tackles to the end zone, but the play was negated on a holding call.

Forrest was moved back to the 25-yard line after the penalty and on the next snap, Kirby handed off to McClendon again and he ran through and over the Summertown defense for a touchdown.

Zoe Long’s PAT boot clanked off the crossbar and bounced out as the game was tied at 6-6 with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter.

Gavin Knight turned in a nice kickoff return for the Eagles, who started at their own 41-yard line and marched down the field before they were stopped on a third-and-goal pass play from the 9-yard line that fell incomplete due to pressure on Summertown quarterback Colton Shaffer from McAlister Wilson.

The Eagles settled for the Abbott field goal to tie the game at 6-6 with 19.8 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Abbott’s ensuing kickoff went for a touchback and a two-yard loss on first down put the Rockets in a hole at the 18-yard line as the third quarter ended.

Cole Villazon, who is also playing with an injured hand, scooted for a first down run and Sweeney ran over several Summertown defenders on the next play for nine yards.

Freshman Tayton Swift came up with a big first down run before Kirby found McCown once again for a first down pass play at the Eagles’ 45-yard line.

After two runs and a third down pass to Villazon, Forrest faced a huge fourth-and-four when Sweeney took a handoff and converted a mouth-smacking first down at the 34-yard line.

The Rockets stayed with the ground game, moving the ball to the Summertown 4-yard line where Kirby called his own number, following his offensive line in to the end zone for a touchdown.

This time Long’s PAT boot was true and Forrest led 13-6 with 4:32 remaining in the contest.

“At halftime I told the kids we were going back to basics and run the rock and play ball,” Stephenson said. “The kids took over, the senior leadership took over.”

“Nick did a great job of running the rock late at the end and Kirby made some big plays in the passing game, that is great to see, Kirby has really stepped up as a leader this year.”

The Rockets gave Summertown life with a personal foul on the ensuing kickoff as the Eagles started their last drive of the game at their own 46-yard line.

The Eagles drove in to Forrest territory and it looked like they had a big pass play moments later, but the gain was negated on an illegal man downfield penalty, moving the ball back to the 46-yard line where they faced a fourth-and-10 when they called timeout with 2:16 remaining in the game.

After the timeout, Shaffer scrambled around before firing a pass that fell incomplete and the Rockets took over on downs.

Forrest ran the ball twice for a first down and Summertown called timeout, but it was too late as the Rockets went in to the victory formation and the clocked ticked to zero before the Forrest travelling faithful stormed the field in appreciation.

“We heard the crowd tonight, they were great,” Sweeney said. “This is great, but we need to stay humble and stay hungry, we are not done yet.”

In the postgame huddle, McClendon, who was visibly sick during the game, dedicated the win to his injured comrade Hill.

“These kids overcome adversity really good, they are an older team, last year we would have folded, but this team fights back,” Stephenson said. “We need this week off, we are a little beat up, but who isn’t beat up this time of year. Maybe we will get some kids back for Community, we’ll see, but we are looking forward to this bye week.”

Now the Rockets need to dedicate the rest of the regular season to the warrior McClendon, who has an outside shot of returning for the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs, beginning on November 8.

Forrest 0 0 6 7-13

Summertown 3 0 3 0-6

Scoring

First Quarter

Summertown- Austin Abbott 31-yard field goal, 5:23.

Third Quarter

Forrest-Nick McClendon 25-yard run, PAT NG, 6:22.

Summertown-Austin Abbott 27-yard field goal, 19.8.

Fourth Quarter

Forrest-Max Kirby 4-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 4:32.

Total Offense: Forrest 275, Summertown 149.

Rushing: Forrest 178, Summertown 106.

Passing: Forrest 97, Summertown 43.

First Downs: Forrest 14, Summertown 10.

Penalties: Forrest 3-35, Summertown 3-25.

Turnovers: Forrest 0, Summertown 0.

Forrest Offense

Rushing: Nick McClendon 16-106-TD, Blaize Sweeney 4-52, Cole Villazon 6-15, Joseph Whitaker 2-9, Tayton Swift 1-3, Max Kirby 9-(-7)-TD.

Passing: Max Kirby 8-11-97-0-0.

Receiving: Spencer McCown 4-72, Charlie Edmonson 1-11, Cody Sisk 1-9, Blaize Sweeney 1-4, Cole Villazon 1-3.

Kicking

PAT: Zoe Long 1-2.