The Rudder Rangers put together one of their best defensive quarters of the season against the Rockdale Tigers on Friday night, but it still wasn't enough to notch the program's first victory.

Rockdale (6-1, 3-1 in 24-3A) needed just 11 plays in the first half to build a 28-0 lead on the way to a 49-7 victory at Merrill Green Stadium.

Rudder helped Rockdale take the lead with a bad snap on a punt and a fumble, both times setting up Rockdale with short fields. And both times the Tigers cashed in with Greg Chelf going in from 6 and then 8 yards out.

After the Tigers added another score later in the first quarter, the Rangers' defense buckled down. On four consecutive Rockdale possessions, Rudder forced the Tigers to turn the ball over on downs twice, on an interception and then a fumble.

The defensive effort included a screen pass that was blown up by linebacker Josh Johnson, an interception by Kyle Danford and a fumble recovery by Matt Fritsche.

"They started doing what they were coached to do," Rudder head coach C.M. Pier said.

The Ranger tried to build on the defensive momentum, moving into Rockdale territory late in the half only to be thwarted by a fumble.

Rockdale's Skylar David scooped it up and returned it 61 yards, setting up a scoring pass from Mark Drake to Tyler Wright that gave Rockdale a 28-0 lead at halftime.

Rockdale took the opening kick of the second half and marched 80 yards to make it 35-0. Chelf scored on a 1-yard run.

Rudder countered with its best offensive drive of the night, covering 72 yards in nine plays to get its first score of the night. Quarterback Tre Hammond and running back Charlie Bush combined to eat up 30 of the yards on the ground. Hammond capped the drive with a perfect pass to Mike Jones, who was a step behind the defense, for a 38-yard touchdown.

"I love him to death," Pier said of Hammond. "I love all of them. All of them are fighting."

The Tigers added two more scores, a 27-yard touchdown pass from Drake to Justin Elliott and a 9-yarder from Tyler Wright to Justin Gadison to round out the scoring.

Rockdale will host Navasota next week while the Rangers will travel to Taylor to take on the Ducks.

"The bottom line is we've got to improve," Pier said. "We are going to watch this film in the morning and set out to get better and try to make it happen."