Immediately following the win against cross-town rival Cheraw, the talk around town was not about how bad we beat the Braves. The topic of interest was, “Remember what happened two years ago after we beat Cheraw and loss to Buford the following week.” Coach Taneyhill and his staff made sure this would not be a serious issue as the Rams smashed the Yellow Jackets 29-0 this past Friday night.

Offensively, the Rams are not clicking as well as they should be. The offense is often out of rhythm, missing too many assignments, turning the ball over, and creating too many penalties. Yet, the Rams are continuing to put up impressive numbers in terms of points scored and yards gained. The key to a sputtering offense has been the superb play of a stingy defense. The “fire ants” continued to blanket their opponent.

The Yellow Jackets surprised the Rams’ defense by eating up nearly eight minutes of clock in the first quarter of play. The belly-option fake by the Buford quarter back was used regularly to keep the Rams’ defense off balance with big yard-gains and a number of key first downs during the first quarter of action. An interception by Sergio Johnson of Chesterfield at the 4:31 of the first quarter prevented the Yellow Jackets from cashing in on their time of possession, ball control offense.

On their second possession of the game, the Rams were in a first and goal situation at the 1-yd line. Coach Taneyhill called for a surprised pass play. The receiver was covered and the QB did not throw the ball away. As a result, Buford intercepted the pass following a tipped ball at the 10:41 mark of the first quarter. Once again, the Rams’ Defense rose to the occasion and held the Yellow Jackets. At the 4:16 mark of the second quarter, the defense tackled the Yellow Jacket punter at the 1-yd line and Derrick McQueen took it for a Ram TD. The Rams led 12-0 to start the third quarter and were up 20-0 with only .44 seconds expiring. McQueen returned the third quarter kick off across mid-field; Truesdale connected with Jonathan Murvin and McQueen took it in for the score as the two plays covered 48-yards. The Rams tacked on another touch down and the defense added a safety to make the final score 29-0 in favor of the visiting Rams.

The Rams are looking to avenge a one point, overtime loss from last year at the hands of the Eagles of Central. Chesterfield should be able to come away with the win against the Eagles if the offense plays up to its capability and the defense does a better job of defending the “up the middle” play. The Eagles’ backs are faster and hit the hole quicker than Buford’s backs. So, the Rams need to shut this option down early in the game and protect the ball to ensure the victory.

Congratulations to all of the Rams on the victory. Come out and support the Rams for the home contest Friday Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. against the Eagles of Central.