Johnsburg beats Richmond-Burton for 1st time since 2017

RICHMOND – Johnsburg’s defense chased Richmond-Burton quarterback Ray Hannemann out of the pocket and forced him to throw the ball wide and out of bounds on fourth-and-long in the final minute of the fourth quarter Friday.

After a kneel down by Johnsburg quarterback Carter Block, the rest of the Skyhawks rushed the field and celebrated a win that was a long time coming.

Johnsburg defeated Richmond-Burton 21-14 in their Kishwaukee River Conference opener for the program’s first win in the series since 2017. In last year’s meeting, the Rockets dominated the Skyhawks 48-0.

“It was a heck of a game,” Johnsburg coach Sam Lesniak said. “It’s all about these guys. These guys have been waiting for a long time. They’ve been waiting for it, and they’ve worked their butts off all year.

“There were some things that didn’t go our way. And when things didn’t go well, nobody pointed fingers. They kept battling. And then a couple of players made some really big plays when we needed it, so that was awesome.”

Block, a junior, was 12-of-21 passing for 224 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also scored the Skyhawks’ third touchdown of the game on a 9-yard scramble with 7:54 left in the third that gave his team a 21-7 lead.

Sophomore Ryan Franze had 97 yards on four catches, including touchdown grabs of 23 and 51 yards for Johnsburg (2-1, 1-0 KRC).

His 51-yarder was on a scramble play by Block, who had to shake off a few Rockets defenders before finding Franze open near the sideline. Franze caught the ball, turned upfield and scored to give Johnsburg a 14-7 lead going into halftime.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Block said. “This means everything. We talked about it from the beginning of the week. We always had this one circled on our schedule. It feels amazing. We knew this was a different vibe than previous years.”

Johnsburg running back Brett Centnarowicz led his team with 73 rushing yards on 19 carries. He also had a sack on defense.

Richmond-Burton (1-2, 0-1) was led by Hunter Carley with 76 rushing yards, including a 13-yard TD that made the score 21-14 with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter. Riley Shea added 73 rushing yards, including an 8-yard score, and Hannemann was 9-of-15 passing for 103 yards and one interception. Nate Moreno added five catches for 74 yards.

Johnsburg’s defense and special teams came up with many big stops throughout Friday’s win. The team recovered an onside kick after Carley scored to cut the score to 21-14. Then, with 3:04 remaining and the Rockets trying to score the game-tying touchdown, Johnsburg’s Duke Mays, who earlier had an INT, recovered a fumble on a ball that was knocked loose by Dom Vallone and Deegan Turner.

“Hopefully it’s a springboard for us,” Lesniak said of the big win. “Hopefully these guys realize that they have a lot of potential. If we keep grinding and we keep going forward, we’re going to be a tough team to play against.

“We knew we were going to be in a big-time dog fight. Going into a big game, we’re not going to lay down against anybody. These guys felt like it was different this year with the guys that we have.”

Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll felt the Rockets missed out on their few opportunities.

“We made way too many mistakes to win a close game,” Noll said. “We just need to be more consistent [on offense]. Make some big plays, but we don’t have a lot of speed. Johnsburg’s quarterback is real good, and they’ve got great skill kids. They outplayed us tonight. Their tailback [Centnarowicz] was the best player on the field.”