Sep 19, 2004 By Bobby Fox For The 3 min read

JEFFERSON – At the beginning of the game on Saturday night, the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets appeared to be short-handed against the visiting Mapletown Maples in an early, but important, Tri-County South Conference matchup. The Rockets were without key starting offensive tackle, junior Steve Yourchik, who was out with a knee injury, and starting tight end/linebacker Cody Ketchem, who was also out with an injury.

Mapletown, on the other hand, came in healthy and fresh off of a hard-fought victory over West Greene on Sept. 10.

The Maples also came in with one of the most talented running backs in the conference, junior Ryan Geisel, who had racked up 478 rushing yards in the first three games of the season.

Despite injuries and facing a tough challenge for his defense, coach Jan Haiden and his Rockets put on quite a show for their home crowd as they beat the visiting Maples 22-9, to go to 2-0 in the conference and 3-1 overall.

On the Rockets’ second drive they got the offense going for the first time. Jefferson went with a running back by committee mentality to lead to the game’s opening touchdown. Four Rockets, sophomore Jarred Moskola, senior David Basinger, senior Josh Basilone, and junior Jeremy Weaver touched the ball for J-M on the drive.

The campaign was capped when Weaver pounded two yards into the end zone for the first Rocket touchdown. He then added the two-point conversion try to put Jefferson up 8-0.

“We ran the ball well,” Haiden said. “They talk about their back (Geisel), but our kids can run too. We may not have one feature back, but we’ll run up in there and get some yards.”

The multi-back attack for Jefferson continue throughout the night. While Basinger led the way in yardage and carries with 19 for 55 yards, Moskola touched the ball six times for 34 yards, Basilone nine times for 32 yards, and Weaver five times for 32 yards and two touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, Jefferson’s defense did something that no other team had been able to do all year, hold Geisel to under 100 yards. The junior back for the Maples carried the ball 14 times for 87 yards.

While the running game, and the huge offensive line tried to wear down the Mapletown front seven, junior quarterback Josh Lawrence helped out through the air. The first-year starter completed five of eight passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

His first scoring play came just before the half as Lawrence hooked up with Moscola for a 26-yard completion in the end zone to put the Rockets up 15-0 after the converted extra point kick.

His second sealed the win for the home team, this time finding senior wide out Luke Lubich for a 13-yard touchdown. After another extra-point from senior Eric Cox, the Rockets were up 22-3 and on their way to their third win of the season.

While the win was obviously important to Haiden and the Rockets, the way his team persevered through the two key injuries made it a little sweeter.

“What made it good tonight was that some kids had to step up because of injuries,” Haiden said. “I just told them, have fun tonight.”

However, Haiden will not be allowing his team to rest on their laurels as they get ready for Frazier.

For the Maples, junior quarterback John Caldwell completed four of 12 passes for 44 yards and was picked once. Senior running back Brad Meyers caught three of those passes for 46 yards.

Mapletown will try to rebound this week when it takes on Carmichaels in another big Tri-County South matchup.