Rockdale scripted more big plays than Shakespeare did, and needed them all, to overcome a game and gutty Llano Yellow Jacket bunch, 39-33, in high school football’s season opener, Aug. 29.

“We must get better at open-field tackling,” Jackets’ head coach David Yeager lamented, “but I’m proud of our effort, and we can improve playing a team as good as this one was.”

Cois Walker, who is probably tired of hearing, “You should be Cois Runner, ha, ha” was no laughing matter for Llano. On 2008’s first play from scrimmage, he went right--and right by the defense. It was a 63-yard dash; with 47 minutes and 39 seconds still to play, the Tigers were up, 7-0.

“It wasn’t exactly the way we wanted to start,” Yeager said on a worn-out turf in his postgame remarks. They came two and a half hours after Jacket fans had mumbled the same sentiment themselves. “We knew Walker was awfully good, and he proved it,” Yeager noted with classy candor.

His team answered--it just took a little longer, about seven minutes longer. Quarterback Trey Brooks kept the ball for a one-yard sneak to wrap up a 61-yard drive that had more experience than Obama or Palin. The attempt for two extra points was no good and Rockdale led, 7-6.

Mark Drake is a talented quarterback, and he was responsible for big-play-number-two: a 39-yard gallop around right end for a TD. Walker might have thought, “Hey, I’m the ball carrier,” and he went 48 yards a with a couple of minutes gone in the second quarter. This set up a 25-yard scoring pass from Drake to Joe Sanders; Drake only threw the ball nine times. Rockdale was in charge, 20-6, and boy were things bleak.

“Absolutely not, we did not think it was over,” Brooks told reporters. “We know we’ll have to come from behind more this year than in 2007, but we have the guys who can do it.”

Meet Estevan Aviles. He’s either one of those guys or he is THE guy. Two minutes after the Tigers’ third touchdown, he introduced himself to varsity football and ran 30 yards into the end zone. Clayton Maples, a junior like Aviles, had run for 17 yards during the 74-yard march, and Brooks had picked up 21. As this chapter closes, the tally is, 20-12.

“Este, man!” The head coach was all smiles discussing this speedster. The punch line is he collected 160 yards on the ground, and Yeager declared, “He ran wild, made some incredible runs.” Aviles stated: “It was wide open every time; the blocking was perfect.”

One of Drake’s six completions was a 43-yarder to the three. Sanders came down with the ball despite solid coverage. Walker went in from the two, and the home team owned a 27-12 halftime advantage. For the entire night, Walker totaled 235 yards rushing on 21 carries.

The Jackets continued to respond. Brooks found the gifted Walker Woolman for 17 yards, and Aviles scampered for 20 to the 20 as part of 72-yards on the Travel Channel. Trey scored from six yards out.

Guess what happened 16 seconds after the TD, midway through the third quarter? No, they didn’t retire Cois Walker’s number, but the number he put on Llano was 62, and that dandy feat with feet changed the scoreboard’s message to 33-19. “We just couldn’t contain him,” linebacker Reagan Friedrich said with a sigh, “but we’ll come back, definitely.”

“It’s a testament to our kids that they fought and never quit,” Yeager said as he leaps a bit ahead in our narrative. “Their will and perseverance were awesome.”

Maples ran for 104 yards in his first major varsity test and got four for a touchdown late in the third; the extra point snap didn’t fit into the hands of the holder, Brooks, so he decided to roll out and pass--it went to the right corner of the end zone, and Taylor Maddox made a super catch. It wasn’t your traditional two-point play, but Rockdale’s lead was down to six pebbles, 33-27.

Friedrich soon diagrammed the defensive gem of the night: On fourth down and long on the Llano 34, Drake went for it with a pass, but he never got rid of the ball, because Reagan was on the Mark for a devastating sack that sent him halfway to College Station. It was a 16-yard loss.

Llano, which had been on more drives than Jeff Gordon, was at the 50 with about seven minutes to play. The Tigers’ quick-strike attack led by just six points. No Hollywood ending, however. The Jackets failed to get a first down; Rockdale took over, and Walker got his fourth TD of the night on a four-yard run.

Don’t move on to the editorial page just yet. Aviles had one burst left: a 35-yard run on which there were enough twists and turns to keep 10 chiropractors in business. “He just was not going to go down,” Yeager commented. It was 39-33 with 2:44 to play, and that was the final.

“The offensive line was amazing,” Brooks pointed out. “Andrew Ratliff, Jase Ball, Corey Wunderlich, Patrick Fonbuena, Josh Gammill, and Friedrich and Woolman did a great job.” The statistics are exhibits A,B, and C for that contention. The Orange and Black had 351 yards rushing, 59 more than Rockdale. The Tigers did have more total offense, 443-401, but, listen to this: Llano had 24 first downs!

“We helped ourselves playing a team this good,” Trey said, “and it was more important taking on such talent than opening with a pushover.”

Yeager’s final words: “It’s only a loss if you don’t get better from it, and we will get better.”

Want to know Something Else? The 33 points match the Llano score when it was beaten by Lexington in ‘07, and 33 is the highest total in school history--in a loss.