Richmond-Burton hands Woodstock North 1st loss of the season

RICHMOND – Despite a 1-2 start to the season, Richmond-Burton remained confident it would turn things around.

“I feel like our team is so young that we weren’t ready yet,” said senior offensive and defensive lineman Logan Garcia. “With each game we’ve been getting more confident. I knew we could get to this point, I just didn’t know how long it would take.”

Since a loss to Johnsburg in Week 3, the Rockets are just about perfect.

Richmond-Burton upped its winning streak to four games with a commanding 35-0 Kishwaukee River Conference victory against previously unbeaten Woodstock North on Friday.

With the win, the Rockets (5-2, 4-1 KRC) moved into a first-place tie in the KRC with Woodstock North (6-1, 4-1) and Sandwich (4-3, 4-1), which beat Woodstock 28-14 Friday night.

Richmond-Burton led 21-0 by halftime and finished with 334 total yards to only 125 for North. The Thunder entered the game averaging 43.5 points a game.

“When you’re defending the option, it takes everybody,” Rockets coach Mike Noll said. “The whole thing we preached all week was eye discipline. Get your eyes where they belong on defense. And I think for the most part, we did a much better job of that.

“It’s about effort, it’s about attitude, it’s about preparation. Our preparation this week was good on both sides of the ball.”

The Rockets were led in the backfield by their sophomore duo of running back Hunter Carley (143 yards, 19 carries) and fullback Riley Shea (82 yards, 15 carries). Carley scored on TD runs of 2 and 1 yards, and Shea added one from 2 yards.

Junior quarterback Ray Hannemann connected with senior Nate Moreno for an 18-yard touchdown to go up 14-0 with 7:20 left in the first half, and junior running back Luke Johnson added the team’s fifth and final TD from 4 yards out with 6:30 left in the second half.

Shea, in his first year on varsity, said he finally feels up to speed.

“I’ve learned a lot my first year,” he said. “In the beginning of the year and in the summer, I was playing a lot slower. As I got more confident running the ball it’s been a lot better. I’m a lot faster. The whole team, we’re practicing a lot harder and we’re making less mistakes now.”

The Thunder were led by fullback David Randecker with 71 yards on 17 carries. Michael Pintor chipped in 26 yards, and Max Dennison had 20.

Woodstock North was unable to match the tough play of R-B.

“They’re physical, they’re relentless, they get off the ball and they’re strong,” North coach Matt Polnow said. “To chase winning, you’ve got to put in extra time in the offseason. We have many guys that chase winning in the offseason, but not as much as those guys. But we’re young and we’re getting there. Tonight they beat us up pretty good.”

Richmond-Burton ends the regular season at Marengo and at home against Plano. The Rockets feel good about their chances of finishing as KRC champs.

Over the past four games, R-B has outscored its opponents 178-35.

“We knew we had to bounce back from that Johnsburg loss. We bring our best in practice, and each week we’ve been building it from there,” Garcia said. “Fire it up each week. Come in on Monday, and do it again.”