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Caston seeks first sectional title, but Pioneer star ages like fine Rine
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Eastside (10-0) at Rochester (6-5), 7 p.m.
(winner plays Knox-Wheeler winner in a Class 2A regional)
The Rochester football team has been able to outmuscle Lakeland and Central Noble to reach the sectional final. They stayed steadfast on the ground against Central Noble, eventually wearing down the Cougars and earning a 36-13 road win last week in a Class 2A, Sectional 34 semifinal.
Rochester finished with 330 yards rushing after rushing for 374 against Lakeland. They are 5-0 when they rush for 300 yards or more in a game.
And the man who kept getting the ball was fullback Kale Shotts. Shotts averaged 87 yards per game on the ground over the first seven games of the season, and he has increased that to 162 yards per game over his last four games. He had a career-high 198 yards against Central Noble, and he is up to 1,255 for the season on 6.9 yards per carry.
Rochester kept chiseling away at Central Noble with Shotts on the trap play, even with seemingly the entire Central Noble student body playing close to the line of scrimmage.
Shaffer also said Rochester had success with its belly play against Central Noble.
“We went a lot of double tight (ends),” Shaffer said of Rochester’s offensive formations. “Within our double tight, we’ve messed around with moving our tackles. We moved one tackle over one side or the other. We can do that. We can go balanced where we just have both tackles on their sides, two tight ends. So we can mix some different things around. And what it does it helps with just gaps. It causes the defense to maybe shift a gap, which now makes certain plays easier to block or gives us a different look that we might want for specific plays. It can cause them to overload to one side. We can run back to the two-linemen side. So it just gives us more variety on playcalling and can make good plays great plays for us.”
Shaffer said that offensive linemen did a good job adjusting during the game. He said that left tackle Camden Susaraba, who is back playing both ways, played well as did right tackle Ethan Bailey. Shaffer also said that having Gavin Pinder back at guard made a great difference after Pinder missed the previous three games with a shoulder injury.
Defensively, Rochester held Central Noble to -2 yards rushing on nine attempts. Central Noble quarterback Ryan Lemish threw for 233 yards, but it took him 47 attempts. Rochester’s Trenton Meadows and Grant Holloway also intercepted Lemish, and the Zebra offense converted each turnover into points.
“I thought for the most part, the guys on the back end, even if we wouldn’t have gotten the rush, I felt like guys were glued to receivers and did a good job of just knowing as the play’s developing what routes are coming to them and where they have to pick that guy up and stick to them,” Shaffer said. “But kind of a pleasant surprise was just how well Aiden Wilson and Gavin Pinder especially got to the quarterback. We weren't sure about that. I don’t know if they ever actually recorded a sack, and we talked about that quarterback did a really good job of just extending plays and doing a great job of moving around in the pocket, but their presence was definitely felt, and he had to throw away quite a few passes, so really … all around, a great defensive game.”
The Eastside offense that they will have to deal with this week in the sectional final contrasts with Central Noble in seemingly every way.
While Central Noble ran the ball just 16% of the time against Rochester, Eastside ran the ball 84% of the time in their 41-13 win over Bremen last week in their semifinal.
Also, the ball was not widely dispersed to a great number of backs. Instead, the ball stayed in the hands of senior quarterback Job Richman and junior tailback Noah Dove. Richman ran for 261 yards on 18 carries, and Dove ran for 161 on eight carries.
Richman and Dove also had three rushing touchdowns each against Bremen. Richman has 21 rushing touchdowns, and Dove has 23. Eastside averages 308 yards rushing per game. Richman and Dove average 270 per game, and the rest of the team averages 38.
Richman has 154 carries, and Dove has 98. No other Blazer has more than 35 carries.
Richman is passing less often this year than he did last year. He attempted nine passes a game last year and just six this year.
Richman has thrown 60 passes this season, and only one has been intercepted. By contrast, Central Noble’s Ryan Lemish was intercepted once every 20 passes he threw for the season.
Rochester has 21 takeaways for the season – 10 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries. But Eastside has turned the ball over only six times in 10 games.
Richman, who is listed at 6-3 and 190 pounds, will take every snap in the shotgun formation. He will survey the field before finding a hole. Among previous Rochester opponents, Eastside most resembles Tippecanoe Valley, according to Shaffer. Valley quarterback Hunter Randall often would take the snap, briefly paralyze the defense and then make a decision.
Eastside’s offense might be best described as similar to a wildcat offense.
“He’s a workhorse,” Shaffer said of Richman. “He averages about 50 yards passing, so you have to honor that, but he’s rushing for 160 yards a game on 10.8 yards a carry, and he’s getting contacted four or five yards downfield, so he’s carrying people for five or six yards. I believe he’s their 190-pound wrestler, and it just shows he’s a wrestler on the football field. He’s tough, physical. He’s got a little bit of a skill set to him with his movement and cuts and things like that, but he’s going to carry people for a lot of yards, so we’ve got to be physical with him all night.”
Dove’s physique differs from Richman’s. Dove is listed at 5-9 and 170 pounds and is known for his speed, according to Shaffer. In the spring, he stars in the 100 and 400 meters for Eastside’s track team.
“He runs the ball hard, but he’s probably the fastest guy we’re going to see all year,” Shaffer said. “In a 100-meter dash, I would put money on him over (Valley’s) Owen Omondi. He is fast, so we’ve got to get to him before he gets started. Because once he gets up to speed, arm tackles aren’t going to tackle him, and you’re going to have a tough time even getting your arm on him. Just a really good runner. Kind of patient, and then once he sees it, he just goes. Great vision, great awareness and a really good football player.”
Defensively, Eastside has clamped opponents to a 12.2 scoring average. They held Bremen to 127 yards rushing on 3.3 yards per carry last week. Bremen averaged 36.1 points per game on 7.3 yards per carry for the season, and they ran for 408 yards on 8.7 yards per carry as a team in a 49-13 win over Prairie Heights the week before.
Outside linebacker Thomas Sebert is Eastside’s leading tackler, and fellow junior Gage Fogle also stars at another outside linebacker spot.
“So they’ll run a 4-3, and they’ve mixed that up with a 4-4 every once in a while,” Shaffer said. “They’ll bring a safety down. When they don’t bring a safety down and they’re in their 4-3, they roll to motion every once in a while. Sebert and Fogle … really good outside backers that just make everybody right. And then they have number nine (Ryder West) in the middle. Just a sophomore. A really physical middle linebacker. When he hits, people get jolted.”
While this is the first ever meeting between the schools, Eastside coach Alyx Brandewie is familiar with Rochester. Brandewie coached in the Three Rivers Conference at Manchester from 2020-22, and he is 1-0 in his career against the Zebras. Manchester beat Rochester 41-14 in a regular season game in 2020.
Coincidentally, Brandewie’s last game at Manchester was a 42-21 loss to Eastside in the 2022 sectional semifinals.
Either Eastside will win their third sectional title in school history or Rochester will win their sixth. Rochester is seeking its first sectional title since 2000.
Rochester’s Owen Lett is expected back after missing the Central Noble game due to an ankle injury he initially suffered against Maconaquah on Oct. 16.
If Rochester wins, they would play Knox on the road or Wheeler at home in the regional.
Caston (9-2) at Pioneer (11-0), 7 p.m.
(winner plays Fremont-South Adams winner in a Class 1A regional)
Clinton Central’s defense offered little resistance against No. 12 Caston last week. The Comets had 535 yards of offense, including 450 rushing on 10.7 yards per carry, and scored a season high in points in a 55-22 win in a Class 1A, Sectional 43 semifinal.
The win gave Caston their first sectional final berth since 2012.
Caston coach Chris Ulerick was asked if a tough Hoosier North schedule has paid dividends in postseason wins against Madison-Grant and Clinton Central.
“Eventually, yes, it’s taken us some time, but I think just playing good, physical opponents week in and week out certainly helps,” Ulerick said. “It certainly helps when you have kids like we have this year that are able to compete and able to win games and dictate the pace. It always helps. The physicality helps no matter what.”
Ashton Bowyer ran for a career-high 210 yards last week. His season high prior to Friday for a game was 91, and his previous career-high was 173.
He also caught a 36-yard touchdown pass.
But perhaps his most memorable play came on defense, when he came in unblocked and nailed Clinton Central quarterback Kaleb Robinson, which forced a fumble that teammate Jake Farrer recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
“Ashton finally did the correct angle,” Ulerick explained. “A lot of times, he tries to engage those tackles, and we’ve been telling him to rip through, and it paid dividends when he did it correctly. We are certainly looking for more opportunities like that and need more opportunities like that. We don’t really blitz the edge. We look for things, and certain things tell us to react a certain way. He read it correctly and reacted correctly, and the next thing you know, we’re causing a turnover and scoring a touchdown.”
As for No. 1 Pioneer, Shiloh Rine ran 22 times for 216 yards and two touchdowns and also caught three passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns in a 50-20 win over Sheridan.
It was Rine’s biggest workload of the season. Only in a 35-9 win over North Judson in the de facto Hoosier North championship game on Oct. 16 has Rine even had as many as 10 carries in a game.
“We had a string of games there in a row where he really didn’t even play the second half,” Pioneer coach Adam Berry said of Rine, who is averaging 11.8 yards per carry and 29.2 yards per reception. “When you’re playing four quarters, our varsity backfield is going to get more carries. We just ran a lot of plays in general. I think (Colten) Long had more than 10, and I think Phillip (McFatridge) was around the high teens. Overall, I’d still say we’re pretty balanced, but I thought he responded darn well, and he made the most of his opportunities.”
Now Pioneer will try to move the ball against a havoc-causing Caston defense. Bowyer leads the defense with 58 tackles, Tucker Woolever has 48, and Parker Zimpleman has 41.
Woolever missed Caston’s 35-7 loss to Pioneer on Sept. 11.
“They’re just a physical defense,” Berry said. “It starts with Woolever in the middle. He didn’t play against us the last time. He does a great job just doing his job. He reads his keys. He just flies to the football. But it’s not just him. They are just a physical defense.
“(We are) obviously both wing-T teams. We go to the same team camp. Coach Ulerick and I go to the same clinics. They know what we’re trying to do offensively. And like I said, they get to the ball in a hurry with their physicality. It’s going to be our job to take advantage of our offensive possessions and execute.”
Defensively, Pioneer had to adjust after Sheridan tied the game 7-7 in the second quarter. Linebacker Mason Shaver dropped back further into coverage and later nabbed an interception.
“We did adjust something where our inside linebacker, he was more focused on the H-back in coverage,” Berry said. “It wasn’t necessarily man but just made a general adjustment where he was dropping a little bit deeper. They were hitting us early with that, but I thought Mason Shaver did a nice job with that. He actually had a key interception late in the second quarter to kind of kill their momentum, and really, it ended up setting up two of our scores.”
Ulerick acknowledges Pioneer’s team speed defensively. Caston’s offensive average is 33.8 points per game, and their output in the regular season meeting against Pioneer was a season low.
That leads to a potentially surreal possibility: Could Caston win their first sectional title in school history on their archrival’s home field and break a 37-game losing streak dating back to 1996 against the Panthers in the process?
Or will Pioneer win its 14th sectional title in school history?
Ulerick knows that Caston is the underdog going into this game.
“I don’t know if they like it or not, but they’re going to be,” Ulerick said. “We’ve talked about that. The first game was filled with a whole lot of emotion that was outside of the football game. I think everybody understands that better this time. I hope that our kids relish the fact. I’ve told them we’re playing with house money. … We would be the underdog from here on out. The last time we probably were going to be favored was last week. We were supposed to be bounced, according to all the experts in Week 1 (against Madison-Grant).
“So our kids will rise to the occasion. They will rise to the occasion. They’ve just got to be ready to play. But the underdog role is going to be something that you’re going to have to be used to playing, and that’s most days in life too.”
Abel Lovelady and London Herd remain out for Caston. Berry reports no injuries.
If Caston wins, they would play Fremont on the road or South Adams at home in the regional. If Pioneer wins, they would play Fremont or South Adams on the road.
