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The Rockville football team is 3-0 because it can run the football. It has a bona fide stud in the backfield, Crusoe Gongbay, who was unstoppable in the Rams' first two victories.

They didn't even need him for their third, and perhaps most impressive.

As Gongbay nursed an ankle injury, junior Nate Nalasco ran for 150 yards and senior Robbie Parker gained 128 in a 34-14 victory over host Northwood Thursday. All told, Rockville's ground game accounted for 320 yards. The Gladiators rushed for just 9.

"I was very happy that our guys stepped up," said Rockville head coach Kevin Bernot. "Crusoe got dinged up last game and thought he might be able to go; we gave him a few carries and he didn't practice this week. Nate Nalasco stepped up and did a great job."

Nolasco did it on both sides of the ball. Weighing just 145 pounds, he pounded between the tackles to for 18 yards to set up a Rockville (3-0 overall, 1-0 2A Division) field goal, while Parker concluded the first quarter with a 10-yard touchdown up the middle.

Up 10-0 at halftime, Nalasco picked off Northwood (1-2, 0-1) quarterback Jimmy Hessler to set up a field goal early in the third quarter. To top it off, his 3-yard run capped the night's scoring.

"I just want to thank the coaches for being hard on me all week in practice," said Nalasco, who carried the ball 28 times. "I just wanted to show the coaches I could play."

Bernot has said Parker is receiving interest from Division I colleges, and on Thursday Parker showed why. After Gladiators junior Jabrari Francis cut Rockville's lead to 6 with his second touchdown of the game, Parker made the game-changing play: On third-and-5 from the Rams' 25-yard line, he rushed up the middle, broke a tackle to the outside, then outraced a horde of would-be tacklers down the left sidelines.

There were still 13 minutes left, but after his 75-yard touchdown, the game was never again close.

Entering the night as the county's leading passer, Hessler managed 168 yards through the air, 108 to senior Anatoly Moschkin. But he also threw five interceptions, all in the second half.

Rockville senior Kevin O'Brien pilfered two of them, while Wayne Jackson thwarted a late Gladiator drive with a double-clutch pick in the end zone. Sophomore Derico Williams had the other, which he returned 10 yards for a touchdown.

The Rams are now 4-0 against the Silver Spring school since it reopened in 2006.

"The last couple times we played them at home, so it feels good to beat them on their turf," said O'Brien.