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Rochester holds Northfield to 59 yards of offense in first half
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WABASH — Brant Beck accounted for 242 yards of offense and scored five touchdowns – three rushing and two receiving – as the Rochester football team romped over host Northfield 42-7 at Wilbur Dawes Field Friday.
Beck ran for 165 yards and added 77 yards receiving. Kale Shotts added 116 yards rushing, including a 56-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that stretched the lead to 42-7 and necessitated a running clock per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.
Rochester improved to 6-1 overall and 6-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. Five of their six wins have ended with a running clock.
Northfield fell to 2-5, 2-4.
In other TRC action Friday, Class 3A, No. 10 Maconaquah stayed unbeaten with a 42-21 win over Lewis Cass. A potential showdown for the conference title between Rochester and Maconaquah remains a possibility at Maconaquah on Oct. 18 in the regular season finale.
Northfield’s nimble Jake Perney saw time at both quarterback and wide receiver. He had a 41-yard touchdown run as a quarterback in the third quarter on an option keeper that cut the lead to 28-7 before Rochester finished with 14 unanswered points.
He finished with 72 yards rushing on eight carries.
But the Rochester defense followed their assignments on defense, holding Northfield’s option attack to 59 yards and just two first downs in the first half.
Rochester lowered their defensive scoring average to 9.9 ppg. If that holds up, it would be the best number for Rochester since 2009.
“We did a pretty good job,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said. “They started messing with their blocking schemes which kind of messes with our reads. And just one mental breakdown or one breakdown and you can see what can happen. (Perney) can take it to the house pretty quick. But for the most part, everybody played good assignment football.”
Rochester, who scored on all three of their first-half possessions, beat Northfield for the third straight year.
After forcing a Northfield three-and-out on their first possession, Rochester’s first drive was methodical. They drove 82 yards in 17 plays and took 9:01 off the clock. Only one play was longer than seven yards: Beck had a 14-yard run that got the ball to the Rochester 48.
The drive also included a fourth-down conversion as Beck gained seven yards on fourth-and-2 from the Northfield 11. Two plays later, he scored on a jet sweep from the 4.
On the ensuing possession, Northfield completed a 12-yard pass from Brayden Rice to Perney on fourth-and-11, but the first down was called back due to a penalty.
Rice then threw incomplete on fourth-and-21, and Rochester responded with a five-play, 64-yard touchdown drive. Paulik completed a 43-yard pass to Beck in the right flat in which he showed balance to stay inbounds and on his feet and power to plow over a Northfield defender.
Three plays later, Beck scored from the 6 on another jet sweep to make it 14-0.
And after another three-and-out that included a chop block penalty on the Norsemen, Logan Lyons punted 16 yards that landed out of bounds at the Rochester 49.
Oddly, Rochester was able to drive 51 yards in nine plays for a score despite committing four illegal procedure penalties.
Beck had a 36-yard run on third-and-16 before Kameron Pratt ran him down from behind at the Northfield 11.
On third-and-5 from the Northfield 6, Paulik booted to the right and found Beck for a touchdown. Paulik then passed to Drew Bowers for a two-point conversion to make it 22-0.
Each team turned the ball over on downs on their first possession of the second half.
With Rochester on the Northfield 44, Paulik lofted a deep pass that touched the Wabash County horizon that Bowers ran under as he was tackled at the 1-yard line.
Beck scored on the next play to make it 28-0.
“He’s patient,” Shaffer said of Paulik. “Nothing really rattles him, which helps. The one throw to Drew was really nice patience on his part and a heck of a catch by Drew, so I would say he did a pretty good job.”
Beck’s fifth touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a play similar to his third touchdown. He caught a pass in the flat from Paulik on a bootleg and broke two tackles on his way to the end zone. He added a two-point conversion run to make it 36-7.
Beck had six receptions for his career prior to Friday. He had five receptions in this game.
Shaffer said “not really” when asked if the plan prior to the game was to get Beck involved in the passing game.
“Just used it when we needed to, when we wanted to,” Shaffer said. “So it wasn’t really a conscientious effort. We just knew that if they were going to play the defense that they were, there were going to be some openings in the passing game in the flat, and it came through.”
After Zakk Parks recovered a fumble on Northfield’s next possession, Shotts ran up the middle on fourth-and-9 for his touchdown. The running clock started with 6:25 left.
Shotts called the blocking on the play “fabulous.”
“It felt amazing,” Shotts said. “We were running that all practice all this week. During halftime, I was thinking that we should run that play because we haven’t yet this game, and it felt amazing. It’s called the fullbone, so it’s pretty much trap except I’m offset, and I take a step back, so it times up right, and I run straight through the wall.”
Rochester 42, Northfield 7
Rochester 8 14 6 14 – 42
Northfield 0 0 7 0 – 7
First quarter
RHS – Brant Beck 4 run (Trenton Meadows pass from Carson Paulik)
Second quarter
RHS – Beck 6 run (run failed)
RHS – Beck 6 pass from Paulik (Drew Bowers pass from Paulik)
Third quarter
RHS – Beck 1 run (run failed)
NF – Jake Perney 41 run (Mason Lyons kick)
Fourth quarter
RHS – Beck 25 pass from Paulik (Beck run)
RHS – Kale Shotts 56 run (run failed)
