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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
WABASH — The Rochester football team could not convert on their big fourth down opportunity against Northfield at Wilbur Dawes Field Friday.
The Norsemen did.
The days of Rochester overpowering teams with their wing-T rushing attack are visible only in their rear view mirror.
Logan Holmes ran for two touchdowns and also threw a touchdown pass to Briggs Baker as the Northfield football team beat the Zebras 22-8 at Wilbur Dawes Field Friday.
Mitchell Clark threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Trenton Meadows, but Rochester did not score in the second half for the second straight week.
Kale Shotts had 48 yards rushing, and Grant Holloway had 47.
Northfield improved to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the TRC. Rochester lost their third straight game and dropped to 3-4, 2-3. It is their longest losing streak since 2020.
The fourth downs on which the game pivoted occurred in the fourth quarter with Northfield leading 14-8.
Rochester faced a fourth-and-1 at the Northfield 29 with 10:37 left, and Rochester coach Isaac Shaffer called timeout.
Holloway moved as if to take a handoff on a counter from Clark, but instead, Clark handed to fullback Shotts, but Shotts was stopped for a 1-yard loss, giving the ball back to Northfield.
“It was huge, right?” Shaffer said. “Because at the time, it was 14-8. So we kind of get a first down there, and I’ve got to think that we would eventually turn that into points and a touchdown, and then you get the two-point conversion, and now you have control of the game, right? You’re up 16-14.
“So that was huge. They made a defensive adjustment in putting a three-lineman front. And so that was probably on me not giving my guys a play. Trap is trap. And so, we’re straight ahead for a yard. So that’s what we’re trying to do, and they stuffed that, so I have to be better with my play calling to give our guys more of a chance to make a play if they have us gapped out like they did on trap on that play.”
On the ensuing drive, Northfield faced a fourth-and-6 from the Rochester 32. Holmes swung a pass to Baker in the left flat, who sped to the left side for a gain of 7 yards and a first down.
Holmes then kept it on the option for 13 yards and a first down and then kept it again on the option for 12 more yards and a touchdown.
Baker’s two-point conversion run capped the scoring.
Holmes finished with 92 yards rushing – 24 in the first half and 68 in the second half. He had five carries for 40 yards on the last touchdown drive.
Rochester gained a first down on a pass interference penalty, but Mitchell Clark followed with four straight incompletions, and Northfield melted the last 4:56 off the clock to close out their first win over Rochester since 2021. Rochester’s wins the last three years over Northfield had all ended with a running clock.
“It’s phenomenal,” Shaffer said of Holmes. “He’s only a sophomore. He’s going to be a problem for the next two years. Just way ahead of his years in the way he can see the game. We talk about for sophomores, the game feels fast. A varsity game is just fast. For him, everything is so slow, and you really don’t see that until you get guys to the junior and senior level. He’s a phenomenal player, and he’s going to be a headache for us for the next two years.”
Rochester opened with four wide receivers in a spread formation with Clark in the shotgun formation. Clark gained 3 yards on the first play, but the drive ended with a Liam Spence punt.
“Not great,” Shaffer said of the “wrinkles” he introduced to the offense. “We’ve got to work on our snaps with the gun and things like that. We saw some good things. We missed a play to Trenton on the sidelines, but that’s Mitchell running that play for the first time. He’s got to get a feel for it. But you can see the plays are there. The kids are executing them. We just got to make that pass. We’re going to have to look back on the film and see is that something we can continue or do we just get good at what we do.”
Back in their more conventional wing-T, Rochester opened the scoring with a seven-play, 63-yard touchdown drive. A Shotts sack of Holmes put Northfield in a fourth-and-22 hole at the Rochester 38, and Meadows then intercepted Holmes on an inside route and returned it 12 yards to the Rochester 37.
Shotts converted a third-and-2 on the first play of the second quarter and followed with a 14-yard run. Two plays later, Holloway ran for 17 yards with help from a kickout block from left guard Derek Wortley to get to the Norse 23.
Clark then hit a lonely Meadows in the back of the end zone for a touchdown with 9:33 left in the half.
Tanner Krom came out to attempt an extra point, but before he could attempt a kick, Rochester was called for a false start penalty.
Shaffer then elected to attempt a two-point conversion from the 8-yard line, and Meadows scored on a double handoff from Holloway to make it 8-0.
Northfield then answered with a 10-play, 67-yard touchdown drive. Baker had a 13-yard run on third-and-2 to convert one third down, and he caught a pass in the flat and evaded Rochester defenders, turning it up inside for a score to make it 8-6.
A chop block penalty negated a Holmes two-point conversion run, and Northfield followed with a false start penalty, creating the unusual sight of a team trying a two-point conversion from the 23-yard line.
Holmes followed with an incomplete pass, and Rochester still led with 4:07 left in the half.
Rochester got three first downs on their next drive, but Clark was sacked twice, and the drive ended with a punt.
Krom tried an onside kick to start the second half, but Mason Steller recovered for Northfield at their own 47. Cooper Good had an 8-yard run on third-and-7, and Baker had a 5-yard run on third-and-4. The scat-quick Good added another 9-yard run before Holmes’ 9-yard touchdown run gave Northfield their first lead with 6:22 left in the third quarter.
Holmes tacked on the two-point conversion to make it 14-8.
Rochester would take over four minutes off the clock on the ensuing drive, but Clark threw an incomplete pass intended for Spence while being harassed on fourth-and-5 from the Northfield 45.
Liam Clark ran 10 yards on the first play of the next drive, but he fumbled, and Shotts recovered. Shotts then turned upfield and then he fumbled. Teammate Owen Lett, who changed his uniform number from No. 84 to No. 58 now that he is starting at left tackle, then recovered on the Northfield 49.
A 10-yard run from Shotts and a 9-yard run from Holloway got it to the Northfield 29 to start the fourth quarter. It was second-and-1.
Northfield stopped Alex Chapman for a loss of 1. Gavin Fincher gained a yard to make it fourth-and-1.
Shaffer then called timeout to prepare for a pivotal play.
Zebra notes
This was Rochester’s first game since the team had what Shaffer described as a “heart-to-heart” talk following a loss to Peru in which the Zebras could not hang onto a 12-point halftime lead. A Zebra player was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after making an obscene gesture that gave Peru a first down in the fourth quarter.
“That last drive that (Northfield) had, we had some plays where they made some big plays, and our guys could have just been done… with about three minutes left,” Shaffer said. “They held them from scoring. Now the clock helped a little bit with it running out, but our guys kept fighting, and that’s what I wanted to see. We didn’t have any of those controllable penalties, right? The unsportsmanlikes and things like that. That’s what I want to see, and we did that. We just had a holding penalty that changed the trajectory of the game for us.”
Gavin Pinder left in the second half and appeared to receive treatment on the sidelines for pain in his left shoulder. Shaffer also said Wortley turned his ankle.
Northfield 22, Rochester 8
Rochester 0 8 0 0 – 8
Northfield 0 6 8 8 – 22
First quarter
(no scoring)
Second quarter
RHS – Trenton Meadows 23 pass from Mitchell Clark (Meadows run)
NF – Briggs Baker 12 pass from Logan Holmes (pass failed)
Third quarter
NF – Holmes 9 run (Holmes run)
Fourth quarter
NF – Holmes 12 run (Baker run)
