Rochelle defeats Richmond-Burton for KRC/I-8 Blue championship

RICHMOND – Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll feels like his team’s best football can still be ahead of it in the playoffs.

The Rockets were unable to come up with their best Friday night against Rochelle, which basically did all the things R-B usually does to its opponents and came away with a 30-20 victory in their Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Blue game.

The Hubs grinded out drives on offense, played strong defense and won their first conference title since 2004, ending a streak of four conference titles for R-B.

“We have to be resilient,” Noll said. “We played hard right to the end. We have to take a step in practice next week. Our best game is still in us. Our best game is a little bit elusive. We did some things and we kept fighting. There’s another step we have to take.”

R-B (7-2, 5-1 KRC/I-8 Blue) expects to get a home game in Class 4A when the playoff pairings are announced on Saturday night. Rochelle (7-2, 6-0) also should get a home game.

The Hubs ran for 254 yards and completed only two passes, both of which went for touchdowns.

“For us, the message was we just had to be fundamentally sound,” Rochelle coach Kyle Kissack said. “We had to execute on every level, especially when you’re playing a team like R-B that is everything a high school football team should be. They’re physical, they play good defense and capitalize on opportunities. We needed to execute the fundamental football. We did that tonight.”

Rochelle jumped to a 16-0 lead in the second quarter, but R-B came back on quarterback JT Groh’s 24-yard pass to Max Loveall to make it 16-6 at halftime. The Rockets started the second half moving the ball, but Rochelle’s Grant Gensler picked off a deflected pass at Rochelle’s 35 and returned it to R-B’s 28, setting up another score and a 24-6 lead.

The Hubs consistently ran the ball and on defense held R-B without a carry more 10 yards or more.

“They played lower than us and played more physical,” R-B tight end-linebacker Ryan Wisniewski said. “If we did those two things, we would have won the line of scrimmage and had a better chance of winning the game.

“We have to learn from our mistakes. We have to keep doing what we did right and make what we did wrong better.”

The loss was only the third in Noll’s six seasons as R-B’s coach.

“We could be a little complacent with where we are,” said Groh, who was 9 of 15 for 143 yards and two touchdowns. “We have to jump to that next level to compete and win.

“I feel good going into next week. I feel like we’re going to make a big jump and go forward from there.”

Rochelle freshman Dylan Manning ran 17 times for 110 yards and Gensler added 16 for 90. The Hubs outgained the Rockets 321-252 in total yards.

“We couldn’t block them consistently,” Noll said. “We weren’t getting to the second level. We had no perimeter running game tonight, they took that away. They did a good job taking our running game away.”

R-B finished with 109 rushing yards.

“It gives us some momentum [for the playoffs] certainly,” Kissack said. “We played really well against a team that has been really successful for a long time.”

Rochelle 30, Richmond-Burton 20

Rochelle 8 8 8 6 – 30

Richmond-Burton 0 6 6 8 – 20

First quarter

RO–Brode Metzger 42 pass from Lewis (Gensler run), 2:02.

Second quarter

RO–R. Villalobos 3 run (R. Villalobos run), 4:28.

RB–Loveall 24 pass from Groh (run failed), 2:43.

Third quarter

RO–Manning 25 pass from Lewis (Gensler run), 7:40.

RB–Martens 21 pass from Groh (run failed), 5:59.

Fourth quarter

RO–Manning 16 run (run failed), 6:03.

RB–Saranzak 7 run (Wisniewski pass from Groh), 2:30.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Rochelle: Manning 17-110, Gensler 16-90, R. Villalobos 10-51, X. Villalobos 1-5, Team 2-minus 2. Totals: 46-254. Richmond-Burton: Nellessen 15-67, Saranak 9-32, Groh 1-9, Johnson 1-1, Martens 3-0. Totals: 29-109.

PASSING–Rochelle: Lewis 2-3-0-67. Richmond-Burton: Groh 9-15-1-143.

RECEIVING–Rochelle: Brode Metzger 1-42, Manning 1-25. Richmond-Burton: Loveall 3-58, Martens 2-44, Wisniewski 2-29, Saranzak 1-9, Bresnahan 1-3.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Rochelle 321, Richmond-Burton 252.