Fireworks ignited to introduce the home team and fireworks were ignited by a Roanoke Rapids defense in the second half to seal a 49-21 victory in a crucial conference game.

It wasn’t, however, the game many thought it would be. The game almost lived up to its expectations in the first half as Roanoke Rapids pushed downfield for a touchdown in the opening minutes.

Bunn ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown and suddenly it was a tie game.

For Roanoke Rapids, however, the offense clicked, pushed and found paths for runners and the offense rebounded, making the score, 14-7. This is the way the first half went, the game everyone thought it would be and Roanoke Rapids leading, 28-21.

Those 21 points would be the last Bunn would score and Roanoke Rapids would not set off fireworks but find a spark in the second half with interceptions and the ability to move downfield easily against the Wildcats, who killed themselves with penalties and failed second half attempts, a Justin Rawles interception and a defense, which in the first half was flat, but came out pumped and realizing this was a big game.

“The first half we came out and played not our A game,” Rawles said. “The second half we played like we would versus any other team.”

Asked if he thought this was the game everyone thought it would be, the Yellow Jackets quarterback said, “Bunn is a good team, but we knew it would be a good game.”

The win, Rawles said, means the Jackets are in first place and could be on their way to a second conference championship. “We control our own destiny now.”

Coach Russell Weinstein said the second half was about adjustments. “We tweaked a couple of things and kind of changed some responsibilities on defense to try and do a little better job on containing the quarterback and I thought we did.”

Weinstein said he believes the Jackets can do a better job at pass protection than they did against the Wildcats. “We’ve done a good job all year until tonight and a couple of the long plays they had were fluke type plays. You know one of them looked like A.J. (Alston) had intercepted and the other kid ends up with it and makes a big first down.”

Then there was a tipped ball by Tyrell Everette which went for a Bunn score, the coach said. “We can do a better job there and we need to do a better job.”

Weinstein believed the Jackets were together offensively in the first half. “We came in with a game plan tonight to try to run the football at them and as they made their adjustments and started shutting down our inside off tackle play, we made a slight adjustment and dived into that area and that was a big play early in the second half.”

Earlier this week the coach said he told people this game had the potential to be a track meet. “It kind of started out that way and, you know, the second half I thought they bogged themselves down with penalties and things like that. They helped us a little bit in the second half.”

Weinstein believes the players came out with more emotion in the second half. “I thought they shot themselves in the foot quite a bit in the second half with penalties,” he said of the Wildcats.

The win at Bunn, the coach said, is part of Roanoke Rapids football history. “They are sitting here with two games to go. Our school has never won two conference championships, ever in the history of the school. So this team has a chance to make history at our school.”

Also, the coach said, the team has the chance to win 10 games in the regular season. “That’s never been done at Roanoke Rapids High School. We keep pushing forward and trying to get better. It was a hard fought game, Bunn’s got an excellent football team. They’ve got a lot of skill on offense. They’ve got a lot of weapons. We knew they were going to be hard to contain. It went pretty much according to plan except for the sloppiness.”

So maybe this game wasn’t really about fireworks. Maybe it was just about sparks.