Richmond-Burton gets on track with big win against Harvard

HARVARD – Richmond-Burton running back Hunter Carley put an exclamation point on the first drive of the game with a 12-yard touchdown run.

On the first drive of the second half, it was deja vu all over again as Carley one-upped himself with a 15-yard score en route to a Rockets’ 49-7 victory at Harvard.

Carley, a sophomore who also ran for a 2-yard TD in the second quarter, followed up a nice performance last week (76 yards, 1 touchdown) in dominant fashion.

“I think I  just had some good blocking up front,” Carley said of his monster performance. “Had to break a few tackles, but got to thank the O-line.”

The Rockets (2-2, 1-1 KRC) got the performance they needed after a KRC opening loss to Johnsburg last week.

“We had a good week of practice,” R-B coach Mike Noll said of his team, a younger group than in years past. “All week we talked about playing harder and cleaning up our mistakes.”

There wasn’t much that went wrong for the Rockets as they finished with more points (49) than they scored in their first three games combined (45).

The similarity in Carley’s opening drive touchdown runs wasn’t the only beautiful scoring symmetry for the Rockets. Running back Luke Johnson scored his first touchdown (12-yard run) on the first play of the second quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he ran 11 yards into the end zone.

Johnson kept things in perspective when asked about how he will celebrate the victory.

“Sleepover with friends,” Johnson stated. “Got to wake up for practice tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the energy pumping up for the next couple games.”

Richmond-Burton kicker Trey Maziarz’s perfectly placed onside kick, recovered by the Rockets on the first play of the game, set the tone early. Maziarz also was a perfect 7 for 7 in extra points.

Harvard (2-2, 0-2 KRC) followed up the opening drive of the game with a dominant scoring drive of its own. The Hornets marched quickly down the field and quarterback Adam Cooke connected with Danny Rosas on a 36-yard touchdown reception, tying the score at 7 only four minutes into the game.

Cooke, who wears many hats for the Hornets, also received a kickoff and recorded a 60-yard punt in the third quarter.

Harvard coach Brad Swanson said his team played hard.

“We got the wind taken out of our sails,” Swanson said. “We just didn’t make as many plays as we should’ve.”

For most of the game, a tandem of Carley, Johnson, and Riley Shea traded carries as the Rockets rushed to the win column.

However, it was quarterback Ray Hannemann’s 13-yard completion to Ryan Wisniewski late in the first quarter that put the Rockets, who never trailed, in the lead for good. The Rockets’ last 42 points were unanswered.

Colton Uphoff and Bryce Kowall took reps at running back late in the game, and Kowall rushed for a 2-yard touchdown, the Rocket’s 7th and final of the night, enabling a running clock to finish off the Rockets’ first conference win of the season.