Val T.
- Sep 7
- 5 min read

Rochester scores 28 in 2nd quarter, routs Whitko

Beck runs for 112 yards, TD; Paulik runs for TD, throws TD to Bowers

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brant Beck Maddox Jewell

Brant Beck ran for 112 yards and a touchdown, Carson Paulik threw for a touchdown and ran for a touchdown, and the Rochester football team scored touchdowns on each of its first five drives in a 49-12 win over Whitko Friday.

Drew Bowers had a 42-yard touchdown reception on offense and an interception on defense, and Kye Murphy, Trenton Meadows, Kale Shotts and Alejandro Chapman also had touchdown runs for the Zebras, who improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the Three Rivers Conference.

In addition to Bowers, Ethan Bailey also had an interception, and Callen Ferverda recovered a fumble.

Sophomore quarterback Crew Ebbinghouse ran for a touchdown and threw a touchdown pass for Whitko, who fell to 0-3, 0-2.

Riley Harman had five receptions for 75 yards.

Rochester has beaten Whitko seven times in the last eight years.

“Some of the execution, some things were frustrating,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said of the first-half offense, which produced 301 yards. “I guess just that we got after it a little bit and got physical with them. We played pretty quick, but we got some growing pains to go through with young guys, and we saw a little bit of that on the first couple drives.”

Leading 7-6 and facing fourth-and-9 from the Whitko 19, Meadows ran for 14 yards and a first down around the left perimeter on the first play of the second quarter. Following a Beck lead block, he scored from the 5 on the next play, and Davis Renie added one of his five extra points to give Rochester a 14-6 lead.

After a Whitko three-and-out, Rochester went on a nine-play, 56-yard scoring drive. The drive included a 6-yard Zakk Parks run on fourth-and-1 from the Whitko 47 and a 19-yard run from Maddox Jewell in which he had to pick the pitch intended for him off a short hop.

Paulik’s 6-yard run on an initially bobbled snap and a Meadows two-point conversion run made it 22-6.

Ferverda’s fumble recovery with 3:05 left in the half came one play after a Rochester personal foul penalty gave Whitko a first down at the Rochester 43.

Paulik found Bowers for 15 yards on a boot to the right and Murphy for 13 yards in the left flat. A Meadows 10-yard run gave Rochester first-and-goal from the 2, and Beck scored untouched on the next play off the right side. The two-point conversion try failed, and it was 28-6.

Ebbinghouse scrambled to his right on the next possession on fourth-and-7 from his own 47, but he overthrew Harman, and Bowers picked him off from his safety position and returned it 25 yards to the Whitko 44.

Two plays later, Paulik launched a pass down the left side that Jewell ran under, beating freshman defensive back Hunter Long for a 40-yard completion. Murphy followed lead blocks from Beck and Paulik on a sweep to the right on the next play to make it 35-6.

“We really tried hard, and it was exciting to see how good we were going to bounce back, and I think we did,” Murphy said. “I think we did a pretty good job.”

Murphy finished with 40 yards on five carries. He said it is his job as a leader to “hype everybody up.” The team was coming off a 22-12 loss to Tippecanoe Valley in the Bell game last week.

“It really did suck losing the Bell, but it was awesome to bounce back, and I think we’ll do great in the conference,” Murphy said.

In the third quarter, a Zebra fumble set up an Ebbinghouse 10-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Freel to cap off a 42-yard touchdown drive to make it 35-12.

Beck responded with a 32-yard run on the first play of the ensuing drive, and after runs of 7 and 8 yards from Murphy, Shotts scored on a 10-yard run up the middle to make it 42-12.

Rochester scored on their only drive of the fourth quarter as Chapman shook off a facemask penalty to score from the 5 and make it 49-12 with 4:26 left and trigger the IHSAA Mercy Rule and the running clock.

Chapman, a freshman, had eight carries for 70 yards on the 90-yard drive.

“A lot of guys blocked well,” Shaffer said. “I thought they ran the ball hard. You know, Brant didn’t have as much of a role or whatever. They were kind of keying on him a little bit, so we used our halfbacks quite a bit, and I thought the passing game really helped open some things up too.”

Senior Liam Pinder made his first start on the offensive line at left tackle, and that group immediately opened holes for Beck, who had three carries for 21 yards on the game’s opening drive. On the fourth play from scrimmage, Paulik hit Bowers down the right sideline for 42 yards and a touchdown to make it 7-0.

But Whitko answered with a touchdown on their first drive. Harman had two catches for 33 yards, and Ebbinghouse found Dylan Cassidy for a 20-yard completion in the right flat off a bootleg to get Whitko a first down at the Rochester 2. Ebbinghouse would later cap the drive with a 2-yard sneak, but Xavier Vance blocked the extra point try to keep the Rochester lead at 7-6.

“Terrible job of keeping him in the pocket,” Shaffer said of the defense on Ebbinghouse. “We’ve got to get better at that. Got to coach it better. Make sure that our guys know. We talk about it, and we work on it, but way too much breaking of the pocket and secondary routes by the receivers after that give us a lot of trouble.”

Paulik suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter and hobbled off the field, but he later returned after the ankle was re-taped. Shaffer said he was told the injury was “pretty quick to recover from.”

Rochester 49, Whitko 12

Whitko 6 0 6 0 – 12

Rochester 7 28 7 7 – 49

First quarter

RHS – Drew Bowers 42 pass from Carson Paulik (Davis Renie kick)

WHI – Crew Ebbinghouse 2 run (kick blocked)

Second quarter

RHS – Trenton Meadows 9 run (Renie kick)

RHS – Paulik 6 run (Meadows run)

RHS – Brant Beck 2 run (run failed)

RHS – Kye Murphy 6 run (Renie kick)

Third quarter