Roanoke Rapids tonight got its first 10 win season in school history tonight, shutting out Northwest Halifax, 42-0.

The school will know Saturday who it will play in the first round of the playoffs this coming Friday at home.

“We came out here and took care of business. It’s a great thing” said D.J. Epperson following the game, which was played in Aurelian Springs. “We got a starting team, getting ready to head in the playoffs now. Turn up the heat and take care of business.”

Asked who he thinks the Jackets will face in the playoffs or who he would like to face, Epperson said, “Anybody. It don’t matter.”

Reaching the 10 win milestone was huge for the school, coach Russell Weinstein said. “That’s the most important thing that we got the victory tonight and our goal, once we got in position, was to get that tenth win. I’m awfully proud of this group of kids to accomplish that and something that’s never been done at our school and we’ve got a chance now to play next week and see if we can get number 11.”

Weinstein said he doesn’t know who the Jackets may face in the playoffs. “There’s some other games that the outcome could dictate some things. There’s going to be several teams in the East that’s going to turn in 10-0 records so until that thing is drawn out tomorrow we just won’t know.”

The game that gave the Jackets the benchmark victory was one that started poorly for Northwest with barely a minute gone by in the first quarter.

The Vikings fumbled on their opening drive at the 8-yard line and the Jackets recovered. It took the Jackets only two plays, with Justin Rawles hitting Grey Jones to score.

After a failed second possession by the Vikings, five plays later Rawles ran the ball 18 yards to give the Jackets their second touchdown of the evening and a 14-0 lead at 8:22.

Northwest had its first long drive on the third possession of game, going 10 plays, only to have quarterback Marcell Cain sacked on a fourth down conversion.

The Jackets made it 21-0 with 42 seconds left in the first quarter as Epperson ran 26 yards on a two play drive.

A lengthy second quarter drive at the beginning of the second quarter, sparked by a 59-yard Cain to Alex Boone pass, ended at the 10-yard line when Vontrel Johnson fumbled and the Jackets’ Derrick Bonner pounced on the ball.

Penalties pushed the Jackets back and a bad snap to Rawles accounted for an 18-yard loss. A 19-yard run by Epperson, however, got the ball to the one and on third down, Matt Wood bulled his way to a touchdown at 2:02, making the score, 28-0.

The Jackets opened their second half drive in nine plays, with Rawles throwing to Epperson for a 5-yard touchdown play to make the score, 35-0 at 8:40.

The Jackets final score of the evening came at 2:37 in the third when Rawles, after an incomplete pass and a sack, ran the ball 53 yards for a touchdown.

Epperson believed the Jackets were somewhat flat. “A little bit. We just got to come back next week, come hard at the beginning and finish strong.”

Weinstein didn’t think so. “I thought defensively we got after them pretty good. I thought offensively we executed pretty well. We weren’t perfect but I’ve never coached a high team that was perfect on a Friday night anyway. I thought we did some good things. We didn’t have the ball a whole lot. They sped up the clock so the number of possessions was decreased. Overall good game, I thought we played good defense except for a couple of plays.”

The coach said he thought the Jackets did a much better job on special teams. “Offensively we threw 42 back up on the board again so we’re still doing something right.”