Rock Falls football hopes to continue moving in right direction

Rock Falls High School football coach Kevin Parker hopes things are finally moving in the right direction for the program.

Parker said there are players that have started since they were freshmen. He said the program continues to add committed players, despite a downtick in overall numbers this year. There are 11 seniors. The coaching staff has mostly been the same during his six years.

It just comes down to turning the positives into wins.

“We’re excited to see those things come together,” Parker said. “[We hope] the change in our culture will start to result in some wins and consistent play.”

The Rockets have not won more than two games since 2017 and have not had a winning season since they went 5-4 in 2009. Before that, it was the 7-4 season in 1992, the last time they reached the playoffs.

Two of the seniors leading Rock falls this season are quarterback Easton Canales and wide receiver Austin Castaneda.

“We’re really excited about our skill guys,” Parker said. “We’ve got a lot of quality there. Kids that are quick, kids that have put in time in the weight room. Kids that have been working their tails off in practice. We’ve got a lot of experience in those positions.”

Parker said adding to the win column comes down to having confidence and playing to their abilities. And not getting in their own way.

“Decreasing mistakes. Mistakes that we can control. We have made way too many mistakes since I’ve been here,” he said. “We make way too many mental mistakes on the football field.”

He said it’s been a challenge for players to have motivation and consistency on a team with low expectations.

“To me, what solves that is a commitment from the kids in the offseason,” he said. “If kids put the time and energy into preparing, they’re not going to quit, they’re going to focus better and that leads to wins.”

Rock Falls also has an open spot o its schedule in Week 5 (Sept. 27) after Rockford Christian canceled its season. The Royal Lions were one of Rock Falls’ wins last year and finished winless. The Rockets also beat Winnebago, 41-35, in the last game of the season.

To open this season, Rock Falls has a tall task in Week 1 with defending Class 3A state champion Byron. Parker considers them the best team in the state.

“I simply look for the effort level and our desire to compete,” he said. “To challenge players across from you and not to just give in to their abilities. … We want to find out how good we truly are. Not kind of just cower back and take a couple shots.”

Another key player Parker mentioned for this season is 6-foot-5, 325-pound lineman Hunter Gale.

“He needs to be the catalyst for us up front,” Parker said. “We did lose a couple kids from moving out of the district and some surprises not to play. We’ve got some younger kids, some juniors coming in that are very strong kids. Just having that group up front play together and jell is absolutely the key to our season.”

Schedule: Aug. 30 Byron; Sept. 6 at Stillman Valley; Sept. 13 Dixon; Sept. 20 Rockford Lutheran; Sept. 27, open; Oct. 4 at North Boone; Oct. 11 Oregon; Oct. 18 Genoa-Kingston; Oct. 25 at Winnebago.