Rockets rebound with a win over Marengo

By Todd Rohde~CORRESPONDENT

After suffering two straight tough defeats, the Richmond-Burton football team regrouped and got back on the winning track by putting a mark in the win column Sept. 14.

The Rockets were running on all cylinders, as they easily defeated the Indians by a 35-17 difference in Big Northern Conference play at Marengo. Richmond, who next travels to Mendota Sept. 14, improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in league play for the season.

“Coming off of our best week of practice, it was nice to see us follow it up with our best performance of the year so far,” Rocket head coach Pat Elder said. “We still need to work on consistency though in all phases of the game in order to become the team that we hope to be.”

After getting off to a slow start in the first quarter, the Rockets made up for it by scoring 35 unanswered points in the final three quarters of play to run away with it. Richmond trailed by a slim 3-0 margin after one quarter of play, thanks to a 24-yard field goal by Marengo’s Matt Shepard with 3:21 left.

The three points would be all the scoring that the Indians would get in the first half, thanks to Richmond’s defense stepping it up and taking a stand. The Rockets defense forced a pair of fumbles and intercepted another pass, bringing potential Marengo drives to a halt.

Not only did the Rockets do a good job of creating turnovers, but they capitalized on them by turning the miscues into points on the other end. The Rockets found the end zone twice in the second quarter to take a 14-3 lead into the locker room with them at the half.

First, Richmond running back Chris Vlasak broke free for a 44-yard touchdown scamper with 7:51 remaining. Not to be outdone, coming off of a two-week break because of suffering a concussion, Adam Kinsella plunged his way across the goal line from four-yards out nearly four minutes later.

Knowing how important a victory was to them, the Rockets bent a little bit in the third quarter, but never broke. The Indians did their best to get back into the contest, but the Rockets were able to limit the bleeding before it got too bad.

Marengo would come out of the gates in the second half with some intensity, as they tried to steal the momentum away from the Rockets. The Indians actually momentarily took a 17-14 lead late in the third quarter on touchdowns coming from a four-yard pass and a six-yard run.

The Rockets received quality field position on the ensuing kickoff, as they advanced the ball out to their own 39-yard line. On the very next play, Kinsella darted his way downfield for a 61-yard touchdown run to give the Rockets the lead for good at 21-17 with 1:07 left in the third.

Not that the Rockets would need it, but they went onto add a pair of insurance scores in the final quarter while holding the Indians scoreless the rest of the way out. Both touchdowns were accounted for by Vlasak including a pair of runs for six and 43 yards in the closing five minutes of play.

The Rockets, who racked up 298 yards rushing on the night, were led by Kinsella with 137 yards on 15 carries and Vlasak adding another 118 yards on 11 runs.

 


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