Turning the ball over at any level can make things tough.

Against Class 2A No. 1-ranked and undefeated Rockridge, it will kill any chance of pulling off an upset.

That was the case Friday in Spring Valley as the Rockets defeated the Hall-Putnam County 48-21 in the regular season finale.

The Rockets flexed their muscles right off the bat on the opening drive.

After an offsides on Hall gave the Rockets a first down, Thomas Sowards picked up 13 yards.

Cullen Schwigen threw a 27-yard completion to Wyatt Osborn before Sowards picked up another 15 yards. That led to a 4-yard touchdown pass to Owen Steele to put the Rockets ahead 7-0.

On Hall’s opening possession, Aiden Redcliff had a big gain, but was called back on a holding penalty, but followed that with a 20-yard run on third-and-19.

But on third-and-12 Chase Wheatley intercepted a pass to set up the Rockets.

The Red Devils initial defense was solid, but on fourth-and-7, Schwigen found Owen Steele for 22 yards and then on first-and-goal Schwigen hit Liam Steele for a 4-yard touchdown.

On Hall’s next drive, Redcliff broke a 45-yard run to set up first-and-goal, but on the next play, Redcliff fumbled into the end zone where Rockridge recovered.

The Rockets capitalized, using a 39-yard run by Sowards and a 17-yard pass and 14-yard run by Schwigen to set up a 3-yard TD by Sowards for a 21-0 lead.

“It’s like any game,” Hall coach Nick Sterling said. “Any team knows you can’t have turnovers and then points off of them and it’s even worse, so we kind of put ourselves in a hole in the first half.”

Hall was unable to do much on the next possession and turned the ball over on downs, but the defense got a big interception from Jaxson Pinter.

The Red Devils didn’t waste any time as Braden Curran bounced outside and down the near sideline for a 49-yard touchdown run.

The Rockets answered soon though as Tanner Dye started things off with an 11-yard run. Schwingen then hit Owen Steele for 16 yards.

Dye had two runs of 8-yards with the second one going for a TD.

The turnover bug got the Red Devils again as Curran was picked off on the very next play by Wheatley, who returned it to the Hall 9-yard line and Sowards scored from 8 yards out and the Rockets led 35-6 at halftime.

Hall came out a different team in the second half and began with a drive that last almost 11 minutes.

On third-and-5, Redcliff ran for a 6-yard gain to keep the drive going. Curran kept the drive alive with an 8-yard run on third-and-7.

On fourth-and-3, Curran connected with Hunter Edgcomb for 6 yards. But on the next two plays, Hall was called for a face mask and a blindside block to make it first-and-36.

Curran threw a 17-yard completion to Redcliff and followed with a 24-yard pass to Chace Sterling for the first down.

Curran was sacked on the next play, but on fourth-and-12 Curran connected with Sterling for a 28-yard TD to cut the deficit to 35-14.

Rockridge responded on its next with a 24-yard TD run by Sowards for a 41-14 lead.

But the Red Devils did not quit as the Curran-Sterling connection started to get hot. The two hooked up for 38 and 39 yards to start the drive and later connected for a 16-yard TD to make it 41-21.

“Hall played outstanding in the second half,” Rockridge coach Sam Graves said. “They did some things that we didn’t see on film and I tell you if not for a couple injuries this is a playoff team. I mean this kid (Curran) comes in just a couple games ago at quarterback and was impressive.”

Unfortunately for Hall, it was unable to slow down the powerful Rockets offense. Dye had runs of 19 and 18 yards before a 14-yard touchdown run from Schwigen made it 48-21.

“I played with these 18 seniors for four years,” Braden Curran said. “It would have been awesome to beat the No. 1 team in 2A, but the effort was amazing. We have had three coaches in four years and we are trying to turn things around and I think we are off to a good start.”

Redcliff led Hall with 97 yards on 12 carries, while Curran had 84 and a TD on 13 carries and also completed 12-of-23 passes for 217 yards and a pair of TD’s. Sterling had five receptions for 145 yards and two TDs.

Sowards led the Rockets with 134 yards and three scores on 15 carries while Dye added 93 yards and a TD on 11 carries.

Hall finishes 3-6 while Rockridge goes to 9-0 and gets ready for the first round of playoffs next weekend.

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Hall's Braden Curran runs the ball against Rockridge on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 at Richard Nesti Stadium. (Jen Heredia for Shaw Local News )