Alcorn’s 4 touchdowns lead Burlington Central over Grant in Class 6A playoff opener
Seeking its first playoff victory in 18 years, things couldn’t have started much better for Burlington Central on Saturday night.
The Rockets scored on their first four possessions to lead 28-0 at halftime before cruising to a 42-14 Class 6A playoff win over Grant on Rocket Hill.
The Rockets will face Geneva in the second round next weekend.
Jackson Alcorn accounted for four total touchdowns, including a pair of scoring strikes to L.J. Kerr, and Zach Samaan ran for a pair of scores for Central (8-2).
Tyler Zdon ran for 113 yards and a score for the Bulldogs. Matthew Gipson and Max Hembrey connected on a long touchdown pass for Grant (6-4).
Alcorn was extremely efficient on the night, completing 8 of 10 passes for 184 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for a score for the Rockets, whose last playoff appearance came in 2014.
“That was one of my personal goals at the beginning of the season is being the quarterback to lead this program into a playoff berth for however long it’s been,” Alcorn said. “And then to come out and win this game and know we’re going to move on to the next round, it just feels amazing.”
Grant rode a 4-game winning streak to its second straight playoff appearance, but couldn’t overcome a sloppy first half that included 2 lost fumbles and key penalties. But Zdon and the offense were finally able to sustain some drives in the second half.
“We got a couple on the board and hopefully built some momentum for next year,” said Grant coach Tim Norwood. “We’ve got nine guys coming back on defense and eight on offense. For us, we obviously wanted to do better than we did, but we got some experience hopefully going forward for the program.”
The Rockets’ defense made Alcorn’s life easier by forcing 3 turnovers, giving the offense a short field each time. Matt Bending’s fumble recovery led to Central’s first touchdown following a 17-yard drive. Tyler McGladdery pounced on another Bulldogs fumble and Rocco Boss’s interception led to the Rockets’ final score.
“That’s something we’ve done all year,” said Central coach Brian Iossi. “I think our turnover differential is plus-16 or something ridiculous like that. We don’t turn the ball over very much and we force a lot of turnovers so obviously those are huge. Our kids were opportunistic in those and made them count and made them pay for it.”
Alcorn connected on passes of 23 and 65 yards to Kerr and 30 yards to Chase Powrozek.
The Rockets’ running back committee combined for 145 yards. Jack Aguirre wound up as Central’s leading rusher with 46 yards as four backs had at least 25 yards.