Are the James Buchanan Rockets for real or was last week’s shellacking of York Vo-Tech a fluke?

In less than 24 hours the Rockets will try to prove that moving to 2-0 on the football season is no joke.

James Buchanan (1-0) travel to Big Spring Friday night for a non-league game, starting at 7.

Last Friday the Rockets dominated York VT in every phase and came away with a 32-8 win. JB coach David Miller would like to see the team continue the upward trend he saw on offense and defense.

The Rockets had balanced offense (134 rushing yards, 198 passing) and the defense recorded 7 sacks, 2 interceptions and didn’t give up a point until just a little over 2 minutes left in the game.

“We want to continue to be as balanced as possible offensively,” Miller said. “If we can keep the run/pass 50-50, 40-60 or 60-40 I’ll be happy. Defensively, we continue to challenge the players to be aggressive. ”

What Miller doesn’t want to see are all the penalties and turnovers again. The Rockets were flagged 6 times and turned the ball over 4 times.

“We just have to not force things,” Miller said. “I’ll take the blame for the one interception because I called a play from the wide side which made it a tough throw. As far as protecting the ball we just have to keep it high and tight and if we don’t have any receivers open don’t be afraid of taking the check down.”

This week’s opponent, the Bulldogs, also opened the season with a victory – 46-20 over Biglerville.

Running back Anthony Gaudioso made the most of his carries, rushing 5 times for 148 yards, including TD runs of 56 and 66 yards. Gaudioso also caught 3 passes for 40 yards and 1 TD.

“Gaudioso did a little bit of everything for them,” Miller said. “He’s a good ball player. We will have to wrap him up. We’ll also have to keep our gap integrity to try to slow him down.”

Big Spring’s QB Tim Siwy isn’t too shabby either. Siwy passed for 193 yards and 3 TDs.

“He throws a nice ball,” Miller said. “What impressed me the most about him was running their option. He made a lot of good reads.”

And one Bulldog player, who didn’t light it up last week, but should be carefully defended is 6-foot-5 wideout Gavin Pritchard.

“We just have to make sure our longer, more athletic players are covering him,” Miller said.

NOTES: Big Spring won last year’s game 48-7 … The Rockets will be looking for their first winning streak since 2013 when they beat Camp Hill (26-24) and Waynesboro (27-7) in back-to-back weeks.