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Valley to face unusual Woodlan offense; Pioneer seeks another win over Caston; Winamac to face ‘Titan’ic opponent; Culver hopes that S. Central’s lightning does not ‘Strauch’ twice
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Elwood (1-8) at Rochester (7-2), 7 p.m.
(Winner faces Blackford-Eastern (Greentown) winner in Class 2A, Sectional 36 semifinal)
Rochester had kept big plays to a minimum this season until it traveled to Maconaquah for their Three Rivers Conference title showdown last week.
Maconaquah’s Aiden Robinson threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Fuddy Kile and a 74-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Kelly, and Marcell Sims returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown.
They were the three longest plays that the Zebra defense has surrendered this season, and Rochester allowed a season high in points in a 30-14 loss.
“They’re the two fastest guys on the field at all times, at least when they’re playing us,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said of Kile and Kelly. “The one for Fuddy Kile was kind of a coverage breakdown. We were bracketing. So we had basically two guys on him, but both of them were stacked outside leverage on him. We needed one stacked inside leverage. It’s a growing pain obviously when you line up wrong, but they’re a matchup nightmare. Both are difficult because they can catch a ‘now’ screen, which means the quarterback is going to take the ball and just throw it directly to them with blocking in front of them, similar to a bubble screen. Or they can run right by you. Very tough to defend both. You’re telling guys they’ve got to give ground, but when the ball’s thrown in the air, you’ve got to make it up and try to close that ground on them. Closing hat space and making the tackle is difficult because they’re just so fast.”
Meanwhile, Maconaquah held Rochester’s running game to four yards per carry after it had been averaging over seven yards per carry for the season.
Brant Beck led the team with 79 yards rushing, but he needed a season-high 27 carries to get those yards.
“Our power plays were working pretty good, and trap was OK,” Shaffer said. “Belly was good. The biggest thing was consistency. We had trouble with staying on-schedule. Too many times we had negative plays or zero-gain plays, and in our offense, it’s hard for us to make those up in close games. So we need to really concentrate in games like that to stay on schedule and consistently execute. They didn’t surprise us with anything they did. On our double teams, we didn’t come off on the backers. You double a guy at the line of scrimmage, and we didn’t come off onto the backer very well after that. They’re coached well, they played a really good game defensively, had a good game plan, and they tackle well. When you play a team that schematically is sound, their kids are good and tough-nosed, and they tackle well, you can’t have those breakdowns in execution.”
Rochester now moves on to Class 2A, Sectional 36, an eight-team grouping with all public schools. Elwood, who has lost eight straight since winning their opener against Southern Wells, is their first opponent.
The Panthers failed to score in six of those eight losses, including five in a row to close out the regular season. First-year coach Sammy Mireles Sr. has implemented an offensive system that revolves around Jayden Mullins. One of only three seniors on the team, Mullins is Elwood’s primary quarterback, but he might line up at running back too.
“So he’s talented,” Shaffer said. “He’s a good athlete. He does run some quarterback and some halfback, so he’ll actually go to running back at times. He does both. So I would say he’s their best quarterback and their best running back. So that gives them a dilemma. I think that’s probably why we’ll probably see a different quarterback in there sometimes to hand the ball off to him. I would say he’s similar to the guy from Southwood (Griffin Chambers). His accuracy is probably not as good as Chambers, but he has very much the ability to extend plays like Chambers does and can run the football. So there’s a decent similarity to let you know what they’re like.”
Another senior is Kalieb Baumbauer, a 255-pound, two-way lineman who is active on both lines of scrimmage.
“He’ll play offensive tackle for them and defensive tackle or nose,” Shaffer said. “So I think they turn to him. He is pretty physical for them, probably the most physical player that they have upfront, so he’s very important to both their offensive and defensive lines.”
Shaffer also said that Elwood likes trick plays on offense and that they have tried several fake punts.
Elwood has not won a sectional game since 2016 or a sectional title since 2000. Rochester is also seeking their first sectional title since 2000.
This is believed to be their first ever meeting.
If Rochester wins, they would play either Blackford or Eastern on the road in the semifinals.
Woodlan (5-4) at Tippecanoe Valley (6-3), 7 p.m.
(Winner faces Lakeland-Garrett winner in Class 3A, Sectional 26 semifinal)
Trailing 17-0 at halftime, Valley fought back within 17-10 against Bremen last week before falling 24-10.
The loss to the Class 2A Lions was just Valley’s fourth loss to a smaller-class opponent since 2019; the other three were to former Three Rivers Conference rival Southwood.
The Valley defense allowed both a 100-yard rusher last week (Carson Anderson) and a 100-yard receiver (Tyrus Graverson).
“It’s hard to stop both,” Valley coach Stephen Moriarty said. “We switched defenses to a 3-3 to stop the passing game, so they were allowed to pick up some running yards, but overall, with playing a 3-3, I was OK with it.”
Valley quarterback Hunter Stage set a career high in passing yards with 164 last week, but the running game could muster only 93 yards on 28 carries.
“We tried to focus on trying to make sure we got the ball on the outside edge and being able to also pass the ball (with) short passes,” Moriarty said. “So we tried to do those things, and it worked out. We got it back to 17-10. What was upsetting was coming out, we had to kick the ball. … We had them third-and-3, and they threw a ball to the end zone to Graverson on third-and-3, and they scored, which was a good pass which put them up 24-10. But overall, I was pleased that we came back 17-10 and fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
While Bremen balanced the run and pass, Woodlan might be nothing like that. Woodlan had 51 rushing attempts as compared to just six pass attempts in a 42-6 loss to Adams Central last week.
Woodlan operates out of a power-T formation for first-year coach Brock Rohrbacher, who had previously coached New Haven and Leo but who had not been a head coach since 2005.
Sophomore Shaiden Snyder is the fullback, and seniors Drew Fleek and Jake Ley are the tailbacks.
In the power-T, there is only one formation, and there are tight ends on both sides of the center.
“They’re balanced on each side, so they make you pick a side, or you have to stay balanced,” Moriarty said. “We’ll have to stay pretty balanced on defense. The one thing that is concerning is when they do pass the ball, they are effective. Because they lull you to sleep with the run, and the passes that they do make tend to be pretty decent. So the percentages made are pretty high when it comes to the passing game.”
Defensively, Woodlan’s season was highlighted by back-to-back shutouts over Jay County and Prairie Heights in Weeks 6 and 7.
“They’re a strong team, and they’ve got a good defense,” Moriarty said. “They’re a 4-3. And with their 4-3, they’ll walk up an outside linebacker occasionally. … They’ll time (their blitzes) out pretty well. They kind of wait back, and they’ll sneak up at the end. Their defensive tackles are big, and their defensive end is 6-8 and 250 pounds (Oliver Adams). He’s a big guy. He’s also their tight end.”
If Valley wins, they would play Lakeland on the road or Garrett at home in the semifinals.
Pioneer (6-3) at Caston (2-7), 7 p.m.
(Winner plays Carroll (Flora)-Frontier winner in Class 1A, Sectional 42 semifinal)
Caston was leading Winamac 3-0 after three quarters last week before eventually falling 16-11. Still, Caston coach Chris Ulerick noticed defensive improvement. He said a lot of it is better alignment and a lot involves “finding the right combination personnel-wise.”
“I think defensively, we are playing as well as we have played,” Ulerick said. “Our defense kept consistently bailing us out last week and then just got put in a bad spot late in the game, and that’s how they got ahead of us. We were putting ourselves in bad spots, but defensively, yes, very proud of their effort.”
Pioneer lost its final two regular season games to Triton and North Judson, but they did manage 182 yards rushing on 5.9 yards per carry against the top-ranked Blue Jays in a 60-18 loss last week.
They also had 540 yards rushing in their first meeting with Caston, a 63-6 win on Sept. 13.
“I think our stat guy had us for 170 or 175 yards of offense in the first half,” Berry said of the offense against North Judson. “Our second possession, we were driving and fumbled. Fourth possession, we were driving at the end of the half, and we try a long field goal. And then we come out, we get the ball (in the) third quarter, and we march down the field and score. So overall, pretty pleased with how our offense did. … I don’t know exactly our per-game average, but we were a little bit below our per-game average, but we were also going against the number one team in the state, and overall, pleased with how our offense did.”
Pioneer knows they must try to stop the Caston rushing duo of Jabez Yarber and Ashton Bowyer as well as the pass-catching duo of junior quarterback Gavin Mollenkopf and freshman wide receiver Logan Mollenkopf.
“A very athletic family,” Berry said of the Mollenkopf brothers. “I’m sure they talk quite a bit of football at home, and there’s something to be said about that. They just have that natural connection. I’m sure they watch film together about what they’re seeing and where to put the ball, and that’s just invaluable to have that where you’re at the dinner table talking and things like that. So definitely a weapon for them. The quarterback Mollenkopf, he runs their offense well.”
Meanwhile, Caston will try to move the ball against a Pioneer defense that impresses Ulerick with its cohesiveness.
“It’s all 11 of them,” Ulerick said. “They’re all there. The first time around, we had success on the first two drives, and we didn’t score on the second one, and that really put some doubt into our kids, but you watch their film, and they’re all hustling. (Number) 70 (Fletcher Smith), he was a trainwrecker the last time. The front four and then the next three, that group of seven, they’re pretty good, and they’re solid, and they just play fast. The biggest thing is that they play fast. Even if it’s not right all the time, they go fast. They get to the ball, and they just swarm everything. They’re a good group of kids to watch play football because they’re always getting after it.”
Caston has not beaten Pioneer since 1996. Pioneer beat Caston 62-13 in their most recent sectional meeting in 2007. Pioneer also knocked Caston out of the 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2005 sectionals.
If Pioneer wins, they would play Frontier at home or Carroll on the road in the next round. If Caston wins, they would play either Carroll or Frontier on the road.
Taylor (4-5) at Winamac (4-4), 7 p.m.
(Winner plays North White-Tri-County winner in Class 1A, Sectional 42 semifinal)
Winamac trailed Caston 3-0 after three quarters but came back to win 16-11 thanks to two Tearson Wolford touchdown runs in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our kids showed some resilience,” Winamac coach Josh Burgess said. “We obviously didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to, and that had a lot to do with what Caston was doing. They threw a lot of things at us, especially defensively, that slowed us down a little bit, but we were able to make some adjustments at halftime, and I thought our kids responded to that. So that was definitely a positive as we are getting into the sectional here.”
Now the Warriors will host a Taylor team that has already posted its winningest season since 2015 under new coach Rob Patchett. The Titans average just 11 points per game while the 11 points Winamac allowed to Caston were a season low.
Junior Javionne Harris started the year at quarterback for Taylor, but senior Jalyn Wooten has since replaced him. Wooten will target sophomore receiver Keyshawn Galloway and Harris, who missed four games but came back and had nine carries for 90 yards and five receptions for 37 yards in a 21-14 loss to Delphi last week.
Burgess said that Harris appeared to wear a cast against Delphi.
“Both those kids… are very athletic,” Burgess said when asked about Wooten and Harris. “We’re going to have to do a good job of trying to keep them contained. The Harris kid did end up playing a little bit the last two weeks, kind of as a slot receiver against Tri-Central and but last week, he was at fullback, and he did take some snaps at quarterback. He’s got a cast on his hand, or it’s wrapped. … We’re not overly familiar with them obviously either, just from what we’ve seen on film. So I think he’s to the point now where he can play; I just don’t think he can throw the ball. … They run a spread offense, try to get you spread out and get their guys in space. Number 10 (Galloway), he’s a nice slot receiver.
“And then upfront defensively, they’re very quick. They really get after people upfront, so we’re again going to have our hands full offensively having to make sure we get those guys blocked and accounted for, so we can get some offense going.”
If Winamac wins, they would play Tri-County at home or North White on the road in the semifinals.
South Central (Union Mills) (2-7) at Culver (1-8), 7:30 p.m.
(Winner plays South Newton-North Judson winner in the Class 1A, Sectional 41 semifinals)
Following a 30-22 loss last week in their Hoosier North matchup, Culver will take on South Central again in the second game of their doubleheader of sorts.
Culver has dismissed South Central from the sectional in each of the last three seasons, and they did so last year after losing to South Central during the regular season.
Clayten Strauch ran for three touchdowns last week for South Central. Strauch started the year at quarterback, but after missing time due to injury, Rylon Rondo has stepped in at quarterback with Strauch moving to running back. Strauch’s 31-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter broke a 22-22 tie.
“We still just didn’t tackle well, and that was the disappointing part,” Culver coach Austin Foust said. “A lot of teams have forced South Central to throw the ball, and when we didn’t do a good enough job of stopping the run like other teams have, South Central kind of felt like where they could live in a world where they could run and pass whenever they needed to, that makes it tough on your defense. So I think in some regards, we did better at not giving up big plays. I will credit our kids for that. We did do a good job there. We didn’t give up big plays, but we just gave up drives. Couldn’t get off the field or when we needed to make a play, we didn’t make a play – that kind of thing. That’s what ultimately really hurt us.”
As for Culver, David Hite continues to take on a more prominent role in the offense. He had 128 yards rushing – including a 44-yard touchdown run – and another 80 receiving – including a 66-yard touchdown catch – last week.
“He’s still playing the same position,” Foust explained. “I think some of him blowing up here a little bit late in what he’s doing is just him being more comfortable in the offense and just comfortable playing football. He hasn’t played football since eighth grade, and when he was there, he was quarterback is what he tells me. So he’s (at) a little bit different position. We thought we might have an advantage on the ground, and we ran the ball and used his speed to get him outside. He did a really nice job on some rocket tosses and jet sweeps for us and then also had 80 yards through the air. … We’re just trying to get the ball in his hands as much as possible because he has the capability of making a big play for us.”
If Culver wins, they would play North Judson at home or South Newton on the road in the semifinals.
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