A Blazer to a Bengal

Junior Rodriguez was a highly rated running back and linebacker preceding the 2025 high school football season. According to Mocogridiron, he ranked 4th among running backs and 9th among linebackers in Montgomery County. He started his high school football career at Montgomery Blair High School, playing JV his freshman year, then moved up to varsity. Junior continued to improve on his game in his sophomore and junior years on varsity. In his junior year, he would lead Blair to a 7-4 record, averaging 69.5 yards a game and finishing the season with 695 total yards and 14 touchdowns on 114 carries. In the 2nd round of the playoffs, the Blair Blazers lost to Bethesda-Chevy Chase 20-7 after their starting quarterback suffered an ankle injury during the playoff game. 

The final playoff game for Blair that year would unexpectedly be Junior’s last high school football game as a Blazer due to personal reasons. In April of this year, Junior found out that he would transfer to James Hubert Blake High School for his senior year. 

The Blake Bengals put up an impressive 2024 season, going 9-2 in the regular season, only losing to rivals Sherwood and Paint Branch. The only home loss that the Bengals suffered from that season was against Leonardtown in the Regional Championship game in the 3rd round of the playoffs.

Heading into the 2025 High Football Season, the Bengals had lost their veteran starting quarterback, Kirby Maston, and other offensive weapons as they all graduated. Wilton Cameron was named the starting QB as he led JV football to an undefeated season the previous year. New players filled the missing spots on the offensive side of the ball, but there was still uncertainty heading into the season about Blake’s offensive power.

During the offseason, Junior spent time lifting daily, going to the field, and working out to prepare for the upcoming season. He had already started working out with the team in May. Junior became accustomed to the new Blake Football system during offseason training. Junior wasn’t completely new to Blake Football; “I’ve been knowing a lot of them (football teammates) since I was younger,” he mentioned in an interview. He had also previously talked with Blake Football’s Head Coach, Bryan Marshall. 

Before the beginning of the season, Junior set goals for himself. Junior set his mind on reaching 1,000 rushing yards on the offensive side of the ball and 75 tackles on the defensive side of the ball while also making a deep run in the playoffs. With this being his last year of high school football, he expressed how it was “lowkey sad,” but he was planning to “end out with a bang.”

So far, Junior has certainly been ending his high school football career with a bang as he’s having an outstanding senior season here at Blake. In 10 games (including the one playoff game), he is currently the leading rusher for Blake with 954 yards on 100 carries, including 8 touchdowns, and he’s also the leading tackler on the defensive side of the ball with 65 total tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 sack. This season, Junior averages an impressive 95.4 yards and 6.5 tackles a game. With another playoff game this week on Friday against Paint Branch, Junior will need 46 rushing yards and 10 tackles to reach his season goals. 

Junior’s most eye-catching performance of the season by far was against his old school, Montgomery Blair High School. “Not too different, it was like playing against any other team, just a regular game,” Junior said. He went into the game treating it as just another regular high school football game under the Friday night lights, nothing more than that. In the first quarter of the game, Junior Broke off for an 84-yard touchdown run and never looked back. He absolutely wrecked the Blazers’ defense, rushing for a total of 315 yards with 2 touchdowns while breaking the Blake single-game rushing record. That was a historic performance by Junior Rodriguez against his old team. 

The regular season has now concluded, and the Blake Bengals disappointingly had a down year, having a 5-4 record despite Junior having a remarkable senior season. The Bengals started strong, starting the season 5-1, but lost 3 consecutive games in October to Bethesda Chevy Chase, Paint Branch, and Walter Johnson. Many people began to have doubts about the Bengals in the 1st round of the Playoffs against the Laurel Spartans, but the Blake Bengals and Junior handled business, winning the game 33-15 and shutting up the critics. Now, they face a tougher but manageable test when they travel to Paint Branch on November 14th for a classic NEC showdown. The Blake defense, led by Junior and DJ Queen, will certainly perform up to their standards, but it’s up to Blake’s offensive power and the ability of Junior on the offensive side of the ball to win the game. If Junior has a good night rushing the ball and the Blake Defensive shuts down the Paint Branch offense, Blake will likely be seeing another football game in November. 

Junior’s explosive ability to find a gap and speed through while breaking off tackles sets him apart from the rest of the running backs in Montgomery County. His talents have heavily impacted Blake’s offensive performance. Junior is now undoubtedly a top 3 running back and a top 7 linebacker in the county. With his high school football career near its end, Junior has left his mark on both the Blair and Blake football programs, and hopefully he can go on to have a successful career in his possible college football career and his business career.