WINTER GARDEN – Rockledge football concluded the spring period with a road contest at West Orange on Friday, May 22.
In hotly contested spring game, West Orange scored the final 17 points to secure a 24-10 win over Rockledge.
“I think we played pretty good. It’s a spring game, so you don’t really want to show too much. We’re going to work on the basics,” Rockledge head coach John Holmes said. “We put in a brand new offense since the end of the season, put a brand new defense in. We only had three, four months to learn it. There’s not too much you can do at this time, but I think overall they had a good game and we perfected what we could.
Rockledge challenged itself in the spring game, playing a West Orange team that resided three classes above them in 2025. West Orange reached the Class 7A regional semifinals. Rockledge earned a spot in the Class 4A state playoffs.
Despite the roster size discrepancy, Rockledge battled West Orange, limiting them to just 1 touchdown through 3 quarters.
“When you come to a school like this, you got 3,400 kids to pick from and play some football,” Holmes said. “We got 1,500 to pick from to come out here and play football. Of course, we’re going to come out here and do the best we can. I’m not making excuses at all. I think we did pretty good.”
Rockledge’s primary source of offense came through the air behind rising senior Robbie Blalock.
The Raiders scored their lone touchdown on a 1-yard run by rising junior Antonio Amerson-Brown with 7:05 left in the second quarter. The score was set up by a Blalock 41-yard completion to rising sophomore Elijah Mitchell on 4th-and-3.
Rockledge took its only lead with 4:35 remaining in the third quarter on a 42-yard field goal by rising senior Joshua Ellis. The kick was set up on an interception by rising senior Demond Scott Jr.
“We did really good. Compared to what we did last year, the offense turned around,” Holmes said. “The offensive line is holding their blocks longer. We are doing a lot better than what we were doing.”
Blalock completed 11-of-29 passes for 155 yards. Mitchell and rising senior Michael Gonzalez Jr. caught 5 passes each for 98 and 37 yards, respectively.
The quarterback said he was frustrated to miss Gonzalez Jr. on a couple deep balls that would have resulted in touchdowns.
“I felt like the defense played great. I just missed too many throws. We had open guys,” Blalock said. “We played a great first half. That’s a great team. We’re going to be fine. I got to make better throws. I think we had a great chance to win that game.”
Blalock, in his first season at Rockledge last fall, threw for 1,352 yards, 13 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He said he’s looking to be more accurate on the simple throws and get faster.
“Last year I came in late. I came in the middle of the season, basically,” Blalock said. “I moved and there was a lot going on. We didn’t really get to expand the offense much.”
It was a bend-but-don’t-break defense for Rockledge as it allowed 446 total yards of offense to West Orange.
The Warriors scored the game’s first touchdown with 10:35 remaining in the second quarter on a 4-yard touchdown reception. They didn’t score again until they kicked an 18-yard field goal with 52 seconds left in the third to tie the game at 10-10.
West Orange salted away the game on a 27-yard touchdown completion with 8:35 left in regulation and a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:27 remaining.
“One thing I say is you can’t keep the defense on the field all night,” Holmes said. “Sooner or later, the offense is going to find a hole or something and they’re going to pick you apart. I think they did pretty good in the first half. Just tackling and we got lazy in the second half.”
Rockledge returns nearly its full roster from last season after the graduation of just three seniors. After its showing in the spring game, Blalock said he’s excited to see what the team can achieve next season.
“I think a lot of people have written us off from last year. We had a gauntlet playing state championship teams back-to-back weeks,” Blalock said. “I think coach Holmes going into year two … we lost three seniors. We’re all coming back. County wise, I don’t think there’s a lot of teams that can do that. I think we’re going to be really good this year.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rockledge football sees potential following spring game
Reporting by Sam Ficarro, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
