Heritage cruises by Rolesville football, moves to 2-0
Heritage struck for a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, then rode yet another strong defensive effort the rest of the way for a 28-0 victory over visiting Rolesville in a non-league football game on Friday.
Quarterback Gunnar Holmberg passed for two touchdowns and also ran for one, Ricky Person Jr. rushed for 120 yards, and defensive end Joe Kane had five sacks as Heritage won decisively for the second straight week. Last week, the Huskies rolled to a 51-6 victory at Green Hope.
“We did a lot of good things, but we still left some out there,” said Heritage coach Dewayne Washington, whose team had three touchdowns called back because of penalties. “We have to continually try to play smart football.”
One of those touchdowns called back by a penalty was an 80-yard kickoff return by Zach Gemmell on the game’s opening play. Heritage managed to overcome that, moving 45 yards in seven plays for a touchdown, that coming on an 8-yard run by Holmberg on third-and-6 to put the Huskies up 7-0 with 9 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
George Kotee made it 14-0 later in the quarter, scoring on a 43-yard run. Holmberg later added touchdown passes of 39 yards to Jalen Pittman in the second quarter and 15 yards to Thayer Thomas in the third quarter.
Person, who had two touchdowns called back due to penalties, left in the third quarter with a hand injury and Holmberg left in the game in the fourth quarter with a sore hip but Washington believed both players should be fine.
TURNING POINT
Leading 7-0, Heritage faced a third-and-18 at its 37 midway through the first quarter. Holmberg threw incomplete but pass interference was called on the play, setting up a third-and-3 at the Rolesville 48. Holmberg completed a 5-yard pass to Thomas for the first down, and Kotee rumbled 43 yards for a touchdown on the next play to give Heritage a two-score lead.
THREE TO KNOW
Joe Kane, Heritage: The junior defensive end was all over the place Friday, in addition to his five sacks he also had a number of tackles for losses. “We love to study film, and we saw some weaknesses there that we could take advantage,” Kane said. “We’re fast and quick and we get after the ball.”
Gunnar Holmberg, Heritage: The junior quarterback completed 9 of 14 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. After a sluggish starter, Holmberg completed his final six passes.
Ricky Person, Heritage: Surpassed 100 yards rushing for the second straight week, doing so with just 13 carries. He had 110 yards by halftime.
BY THE NUMBERS
3: Touchdowns for Heritage called back due to penalties.
17: Number of plays that resulted in lost yardage for Rolesville’s offense.
346: Total yards of offense for Heritage, including 219 on the ground.
THEY SAID IT
“Joe was all the over the place, and we have three defensive backs (starting) that weren’t even on the team last season,” said Washington about his defense. “They really stepped up and did a great job.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 10:34 PM with the headline "Heritage cruises by Rolesville football, moves to 2-0."