The Forrest Rockets bounced back from an unpleasant loss at Portland last week with a tough 19-7 win over archrival Eagleville Friday night at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill in the Region 5-AA opener for both teams.

“It’s always a huge win to beat Eagleville,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “It was our first region game and now we are 1-0 in the region and we are one step closer to our goal.”

It was the third win in a row for Forrest over the Eagles, but it didn’t come easy in a game that was a tough defensive battle.

“That was one thing we preached all week was to finish the game, we finally finished a game” Stephenson said. “We didn’t start off too hot, but we were able to move the ball and get some points in the first half, but our defense played well all night long.”

There were 20 offensive possessions in the contest with Forrest in control of the ball 11 times and Eagleville had the rock nine times.

Both punters got a workout as Christian Hammond punted six times for the Rockets and Kaden Snitzer kicked the ball away four times for Eagleville.

The Forrest defense stopped the Eagles twice on fourth down and the Rockets were stymied once on downs by the Eagleville defense.

Two huge Eagleville turnovers were the difference in the contest as a late first half fumble led to the go-ahead field by Carson Baker and a safety late in the game led to 9 insurance points for the Rockets.

“We got that late safety at the end of the game and that was huge and they had some fourth down stops down there and I’m really proud of them.” Stephenson said. “They swarmed to the ball all night long and fought their tails off.”

Forrest outgained the Eagles 231-to-164 as the Rockets grounded out 184 rushing yards on 45 carries for a 4.1 yards per rush average.

Brenton Burchell led the way with five carries for 44 yards, quarterback Max Kirby ran the rock 10 times for 41 yards, while Tayton Swift carried most of the load, toting the pigskin 17 times for 38 yards and a touchdown.

Joseph Whitaker had five carries for 18 yards, Hunter Pendley rushed four times for 17 yards, Micah McClendon three for 14, and Chris Davis had one touch for 12 yards.

Kirby put the ball in the air 11 times, completing five for 24 yards and one touchdown.

Burchell had one catch for an 11-yard touchdown, Boston Follis had two receptions for 25 yards, Whitaker had one catch for six yards, and Swift caught one Kirby toss for five yards.

The two teams split the game’s first four possessions in the first quarter with two punts apiece and the Rockets turned it over on downs in the first possession of the second quarter before the Eagles opened the scoring on one play, a 70-yard Marcus Collins to Snitzer long bomb.

Dylan Pratt booted the PAT for a 7-0 Eagleville lead with 9:33 remaining in the second quarter.

Forrest also punted on their next possession and the Rockets’ defense forced a three-and-out and an Eagleville punt with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

Forrest finally got a boost when McClendon came up with a long punt return to the Eagleville 37-yard line.

The Rockets ran the ball four straight times before Kirby found a wide open Burchell in the end zone for a touchdown and Baker kicked the PAT through the uprights to tie the game at 7-7 with 1:55 left in the first half.

After the ensuing Forrest kickoff, McCalister Wilson came up with a huge strip and Pendley recovered the rock at the Eagleville 21-yard line.

Forrest moved the ball to the Eagleville 5-yard line where Baker drilled a 25-yard field goal to put the Rockets in front for good as the halftime horn sounded.

“That was a huge turnover there,” Stephenson said. “We were able to move the ball close enough to get that field goal and I thought that was big momentum changer.”

Eagleville returned the second half kickoff to the FHS 48-yard line where they drove the ball all the way to Rockets’ 11-yard where Noah Hill came up with huge fourth-down tackle at the nine with 6:19 remaining in the third quarter.

The Rockets failed to move the ball and had to punt, but the Forrest defense came up with another great series and forced an Eagleville punt with 1:51 left in the period.

Forrest picked up one first down, but that was it and Hammonds came up with a clutch punt that was downed at the Eagleville 30-yard line.

The Rockets’ defense came up big again as senior Layne Strasser continued his fine play on the season with a fourth-down sack on Collins.

The Rockets went on an extended drive that burned four minutes off the clock before Hammond drove a punt into the Eagleville end zone with 4:59 remaining in the game.

A holding call and a false start put the Eagles in a first-and-25 hole.

Eagleville went nowhere, facing a third-and-20 from their own 10-yard line when Collins dished to Snitzer on a short pass.

Snitzer ran around and tried to change directions before being gang tackled in the end zone for a safety, giving the Rockets a 12-7 lead with 3:37 left in the contest.

Eagleville tried an onside kick after the safety that was recovered by Hollis at the 29-yard line and seven running plays later, Swift found the end zone to put the game away.

The Rockets (2-1, 1-0) entertain longtime rival Moore County (3-0, 1-0) in Friday night’s Homecoming contest at “The Rock” with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.

The sixth-ranked Class A Raiders beat Cornersville 33-23 at Frog Bottom.

“This is a big rivalry around here, this is the game all the old timers like to show up to,” Stephenson said. “We are not very far apart and both towns always bring a lot of fans.”

“Moore County has a great team this year, I think they have 15 seniors and they are playing really hard.”

Eagleville 0 7 0 0-7

Forrest 0 10 0 9-19

Scoring Plays

First Quarter

Eagleville-Kaden Snitzer 70-yard pass from Marcus Collins (Dylan Pratt kick), 9:33.

Second Quarter

Forrest-Brenton Burchell 11-yard pass from Max Kirby (Carson Baker kick), 1:55.

Forrest-Carson Baker 25-yard field goal, 0.00.

Fourth Quarter

Forrest-Team Safety, 3:37.

Forrest-Tayton Swift 17-yard run (Gavin Grissom kick), 0:51.

Total Offense: Eagleville 164, Forrest 231.

Rushing: Forrest 42, Forrest 184.

Passing: Eagleville 122, Forrest 47.

Turnovers: Eagleville 2, Forrest 0.

Forrest Offense

Rushing: Brenton Burchell 5-44, Max Kirby 10-41, Tayton Swift 17-38-TD, Joseph Whitaker 5-18, Hunter Pendley 4-17, Micah McClendon 3-14, Chris Davis 1-12.

Passing: Max Kirby 5-11-47-0-TD.

Receiving: Boston Follis 2-25, Brenton Burchell 1-11-TD, Joseph Whitaker 1-6, Tayton Swift 1-5.

Kicking

PAT: Carson Baker 1-1, Gavin Grissom 1-1.

Field Goals: Carson Baker 1-1-25.

Defense

Tackles: Layne Strasser 4 (Sack), Aiden Freeman 4, Noah Hill 3, Micah McClendon 3, Tayton Swift 3, Layne Bowman 2, Chris Davis 2, Brayden Jones 2, Max Kirby 2, Riley Durbin 2, Hunter Pendley 2 (FUM REC), Wilson McCalister 2, Boston Follis 1, Joseph Whitaker 1.