Meadows, Shotts help Rochester rout Southwood in opener

Zebras have 3 TDs called back by penalty, but defense shuts out Knights for 4th straight year

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

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Gavin Pinder Alex Chapman

Fortune favors the bold, the Roman poet Virgil once wrote.

Rochester football coach Isaac Shaffer exemplified this statement with two play calls in particular that led to touchdowns as the Zebras rolled to a 46-0 win over visiting Southwood in the season opener for both teams at Barnhart Field Friday.

Trenton Meadows and Kale Shotts had 67 yards rushing each to tie for the team lead. Meadows ran for two touchdowns, and Shotts also ran for a touchdown.

Aiden Wilson and Mason Oliver also had touchdown runs, and Mitchell Clark threw his first career touchdown pass to Alex Chapman on a 13-yard screen on the last play of the first half.

Liam Spence had a 31-yard reception on offense, and he also had an interception and a fumble recovery on defense in his varsity debut. Gavin Pinder also had a fumble recovery on defense.

Rochester beat Southwood for the fifth straight year and shut them out for the fourth straight year.

Rochester held Southwood fullback Tripper Schnepp to eight carries for 21 yards in the first half.

“I thought really well,” Shaffer said. “That was the one guy we said we wanted to take away. I feel like he had a few runs here and there. We might have called one timeout in the first half and got things fixed. I think he’s going to be seeing Owen Lett in his sleep tonight. Owen Lett had a great game at defensive end.”

They also won despite having three touchdowns called back by penalty.

The win was the first in the career for Shaffer, who thanked the student section and cheerleaders in addition to the players in a celebratory postgame speech.

The win came at the expense of Bud Wright, the first-year Hall of Fame coach who owns the state record with 464 career wins and who also won nine state titles in a 59-year run at Sheridan from 1966-2024.

Shaffer’s first bold call came on fourth-and-goal from the 10 on the game’s opening drive. Shaffer decided to go for it, and he called a running play with Clark handing to Grant Holloway from his right halfback spot. Holloway then handed off to Meadows, who found a crease down the middle, spun off a defender and raced into the end zone.

Gavin Fincher had a 9-yard touchdown catch wiped out on a holding penalty earlier in the drive.

“Nobody panicked,” Shaffer said. “Everybody just played the next play, and we were able to punch it in.”

Pinder recovered a Kallen Gidley fumble on Southwood’s third offensive snap – the ball squirted out of Gidley’s hands like a wet bar of soap after an awkward exchange from quarterback Eli Shellhamer – on the Knight 23.

Two plays after a false start penalty, Holloway ran 15 yards on second-and-12 down to the 10. Three plays later, Wilson, a junior who also saw playing time at fullback with Shotts, scored from the 3. A Clark two-point conversion run made it 14-0.

Rochester stopped Tripper Schnepp twice on third-and-1 and then again on fourth-and-1 to halt a 39-yard Southwood drive at the Rochester 26.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Meadows caught a 74-yard touchdown pass, but it was called back on a personal foul penalty. Three plays later, Meadows caught an 81-yard touchdown pass, but that was also called back on an illegal block call. However, Meadows was still credited with a 16-yard reception on the play as the penalty was 10 yards from the spot of the foul.

Wilson followed with a 25-yard run, and after Clark saved a drive by recovering a Wilson fumble, Meadows capped it off with a 38-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep to the right on third-and-8.

“We all just trusted each other,” Meadows said. “We all knew that we were going to get through it. Just win the game. Those two penalties don’t really matter. Look at the score. We still won.”

After a Southwood three-and-out, Holloway had a 15-yard punt return and a 17-yard carry. A 14-yard Shotts run got them down to the 1, and Shotts scored on the next play.

After another three-and-out from Southwood, Rochester drove 65 yards in 59 seconds. Spence’s first career reception, in which he outleaped Southwood cornerback Isaiah Widemon, moved the ball down to the Southwood 34.

Then came the second bold call.

With 2.9 seconds left in the half and Rochester leading 30-0 and facing fourth down at the Southwood 13, Shaffer called for a screen pass. Clark turned to his left. Southwood’s Kallen Gidley flew in the face of Clark, but Gidley had gone too far upfield. Clark lofted a pass over Gidley’s head to Chapman, who used a block from Gavin Pinder to score untouched on the final play of the half.

Shotts added the two-point conversion run to make it 38-0, and the entire second half was played with a running clock per the IHSAA Success Factor.

“They’re pretty good,” Wright said of Rochester. “They’re a good football team. We knew that coming in.”

Oliver, a sophomore who is backing up Clark at quarterback, scored on a 12-yard bootleg on the first Zebra possession of the second half.

“I thought as a whole pretty good,” Shaffer said when asked to assess the offensive line. “I feel like guys missed different rules that they should have had in maybe one play whereas the other five guys on the line are doing what they’re supposed to. So just that one guy messing up can cause a problem for us. The thing that I felt like our halfbacks and fullbacks did was they ran the ball hard. So anytime we preach, if you run the ball hard, we’ll get three-and-a-third yards, and that will keep us getting first downs.”Meadows, Shotts, Holloway and Wilson all did not touch the ball offensively in the second half.

Those who did carry the ball for Rochester in the second half included Jordan Gonzalez, Tanner Horn, Gavin Fincher, Auggie Wells IV, Grayson Miller and Teagan Bailey.

“It feels really good,” Shaffer said. “But I told the guys, you know, celebrate this until 11 o’clock tonight and then we’re on to Valley. We’ve got a lot more work we have to do. We have to get a lot better.”

Meadows said he is “very similar” to his father Ron, whom Isaac replaced as coach.

“I love Isaac as a coach,” Meadows said. “He’s been coaching me since eighth grade. We’ve been basically through Rochester together. He’s just a really good guy, and he knows how to command this team. He’s going to do well.”

Rochester 46, Southwood 0

Southwood 0 0 0 0 – 0

Rochester 14 24 8 0 – 46

First quarter

RHS – Trenton Meadows 10 run (run failed)

RHS – Aiden Wilson 3 run (Mitchell Clark run)

Second quarter

RHS – Trenton Meadows 38 run (Wilson run)

RHS – Kale Shotts 1 run (Alex Chapman pass from Clark)

RHS – Chapman 13 pass from Clark (Shotts run)

Third quarter

RHS – Mason Oliver 12 run (Jordan Gonzalez run)

Fourth quarter

(no scoring)