Byron has been a tough team to handle even for the best of teams, and even in the best of times.

For Rock Falls, the Byron game caps off a difficult seven-day stretch.

On Wednesday, the Rockets weren’t practicing, with those things they would have worked on in a normal Wednesday practice split between Tuesday’s and Thursday’s practices.

Instead, the Rockets gathered in their locker room at Hinders Field to sign cards and a poster to offer condolences for their lost teammate, senior Brock Parker, who died last Friday. His visitation was Wednesday evening.

“Even though Brock was only with our program a year, it hits close to home, especially being one of our staff’s child,” acting head coach Alex Leaf said. “Our guys have really come together and tried to be as supportive as possible in any way they’ve been asked, and in a lot of ways they’ve done what hasn’t been asked of them. You could tell there was that family bond.”

Following the automobile crash which hospitalized Brock Parker, his father, Rock Falls coach Kevin Parker, has been away from the team with the rest of the coaching staff stepping in.

“Our game plan has not changed much, that’s the nice part about the coaching staff that we’ve had,” Leaf said. “In Kevin’s absence, we’ve had guys step up to take the reins in positions that they’ve needed to. So we continue to try to keep the kids busy, keep them moving in terms of a practice routine, just to keep things as normal as possible.

“At the same sense, we’ve identified there are obstacles to overcome, and we’re going to continue to do that as a program. We need to get through these next few weeks and hopefully finish the season on a high note.”

Through all of that, the Rockets have a game to prepare for, and it isn’t an easy one. Byron comes in 5-0 and in the driver’s seat of the Big Northern race, having already beaten Stillman Valley and Genoa-Kingston.

“Byron, in a lot of ways, is a similar preparation to how we prepped for Genoa-Kingston [in Week 5],” Leaf said. “We know they’re going to establish the run game. They keep predominantly between the tackles, so they keep those big boys up front and they want to plow the way. Byron, they don’t have to do anything outside their normal routine because they’ve established themselves. They know their opponents know what they’re going to do, and they just expect to do it better than you. If you can’t stop it, they run it over and over again.”

Byron scores points by the boatload. With the exception of the 7-3 slugfest of a win over Genoa-Kingston in Week 4, the Tigers have averaged 42.75 points per game.

“We broke down Genoa-Kingston and Byron’s game, that was a dogfight, 7-3,” Leaf said. “What Genoa-Kingston does well, and they’ve done it against all their opponents, is essentially what we’re focused on too, is they rally to the ball, they flow really well from their linebacker position, they try to get as much of a push as they can. If you can’t tackle [Byron’s] running backs on first or second contact, it’s going to be a long game, so we really have to fill those gaps.”

But Byron’s defense is tough as well. In addition to holding the high-powered Cogs – who turned around and scored 41 against Rock Falls the week after facing Byron – to a field goal, the Tigers have shut out Stillman Valley and held North Boone’s aerial attack to seven points.

“They like to creep their linebackers up, they like to do a lot of blitzes too,” Leaf said. “So we’ve got to be able to identify those blitzes and pick them up.”