All-RTC4 football: Beck, Rochester’s 4,000-yard rusher, takes Player of Year again

Val T.
2 days ago
6 min read

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

**RTC4 Football Player of the Year Brant Beck**

No one was more omnipresent on a football field than Rochester’s Brant Beck, and as a result, he is our RTC4 Football Player of the Year for the second straight year.

Offensively, Beck ran for 1,283 yards on the season while crossing the 4,000-yard barrier for his career. He also made a position change on defense, and he led the defense with 66 tackles.

Most notably, he leaves Rochester with a career record of 34-10 in four varsity seasons. And this might have been the best team he played on as they ranked in the top five in defensive scoring average for much of the season.

The story of the season was how rarely RTC4 area teams passed the ball, even though we are in the era of the spread offense and increasingly sophisticated passing attacks statewide.

Of the area teams, only Caston and Culver averaged more than 10 passing attempts per game.

Pioneer almost never passed, and Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley only passed it sparingly as well despite having experienced quarterbacks.

Then again, Pioneer made the Class 1A state finals, and Rochester won the Three Rivers Conference and were ranked in the top 10 in Class 2A at the end of the season. Valley also kept it on the ground and won seven games.

The greater trend was defense. Rochester allowed 7.5 points per game, Pioneer allowed 13.4, and Valley allowed 14.6. Whether it was Rochester’s 4-2-5 or Valley’s gap control defense or Pioneer’s slanting defense, all these teams were locked in defensively. There were very few weak links.

Beck also headlines our All-RTC4 football team. We thank area coaches for sending us their statistics, and we also thank them for sharing their thoughts with us, often on a weekly basis. Since everybody basically plays at the same time on a Friday night, many coaches helped us fill in the blanks for the games that we could not get to.

Having said that, this list is ours and ours alone, and we take full responsibility for it. We were there on Week 1, and we were there for Pioneer in the Class 1A state finals, and we were there for every week in between.

Micah Rans Noah VanMeter Wes Parker

All-RTC4

Brant Beck (Rochester) (Player of the Year) – Beck moved from wingback to fullback on offense and from inside linebacker to outside linebacker on defense. He looked even more comfortable at fullback and crossed the 4,000 career yard mark. Defensively, he moved from inside linebacker to outside linebacker, and that allowed him to use his speed more to make plays
Micah Rans (Pioneer) – Rans’ rushing output dropped from 1,685 yards last year to 1,088 this year, even though Pioneer played three more games. After Pioneer lost in the state finals, we found out why: Rans played the final six games with a fractured fibula. Still, his toughness and leadership will be something that will not be easily forgotten.
Noah VanMeter (Pioneer) – VanMeter was the ideal wing-T fullback, running for 1,600 yards while also adding 88 tackles from his linebacker spot on defense. On a team full of iron men, he was the heart and soul.
Wes Parker (Tippecanoe Valley) – We were curious if Parker could handle a heavier workload or if he would be better off on a wing just getting a handful of carries per game. Well, he averaged nearly 18 carries per game for 115.5 yards per game, and he also found time to play defense. He also seemed to play his best in Valley’s biggest games.
Grady Moriarty Trenton Meadows Grant Clark Owen Omondi
Grady Moriarty (Tippecanoe Valley) – Moriarty finished with 807 yards rushing on 7.8 yards per carry. Anybody thinking that he was some bruising fullback found out only later that he runs on the track team’s 4 x 100 relay, and that was often when they could only see Moriarty’s taillights as he went on another long run. And by the way, he was also an imposing outside linebacker.
Shiloh Rine (Pioneer) – Rine’s season high for carries in a game in 2024 was six. This year, he averaged seven carries per game, and he never slowed down, rushing for over 1,100 yards. He also scored 18 touchdowns – 16 rushing, two passing while also recording 81 tackles and two interceptions on defense.
Ashton Bowyer (Caston) – Partly due to injuries, Bowyer had to carry a bigger portion of the load offensively, and he wound up leading the Comets with 851 yards rushing on 18 carries per game. His 59 tackles ranked second on the team.
Trenton Meadows (Rochester) – Meadows worked on getting faster, and he was a blur from the left wingback spot in Rochester’s wing-T, rushing for 676 yards on 9.3 yards per carry while also leading the team with 227 receiving yards, almost all of them on big plays while leaving defenders in his dust.
Grant Clark (Rochester) – We already knew Clark was a force at defensive end, and this year, he was also utilized as a blocking tight end on offense as well. Rochester’s defense allowed few big perimeter runs, and Clark sealing the perimeter with his size and athleticism was a big reason why.
Eli Guffey (Pioneer) – Guffey was a huge defensive force at outside linebacker all year, and even on a rare day in which the defense struggled against South Putnam in the state championship game, he excelled there as well.
Tearson Wolford (Winamac) – Wolford, a junior, ran for over 750 yards on offense, and he was critical as a tackling force on defense, hauling in 107 tackles. Wolford has great agility and lateral movement.
Owen Omondi (Tippecanoe Valley) – Omondi could do almost anything on a football field, and that included some heroic punts in the Bell Game against Rochester when Valley was in terrible field position and Gage Overbey had gotten hurt. Still, we would argue he is at his best on defense as an aggressive safety patrolling the middle of the field.
Mason Hisey (Rochester) – Hisey has long arms and legs, so it was hard to get inside on him, and his quickness at defensive end meant that he was in the opposing team’s backfield often.
J.J. Solano Callen Ferverda Gage Overbey Clarence Garrett
J.J. Solano (Pioneer) – Solano had a great year on the interior of the Pioneer offensive and defensive lines. He relied on precision footwork to be a great guard on offense and also had 111 tackles on defense, frequently breaking into the opposition’s backfield.
Tucker Woolever (Caston) – Woolever, a sophomore, stood out on both the offensive and defensive lines for the Comets, and he led the defense with 64 tackles.
Caleb McCuen (Culver) – McCuen, a senior, has always been a pass-catching force, but what stood out this year was that it seemed like he had gained speed and was now a threat to turn every reception into a house call.
Callen Ferverda (Rochester) – Ferverda’s intensity on the offensive and defensive lines stood out, and his interception return for a touchdown against Wabash symbolized the extra effort the Zebras gave throughout the season.
Gage Overbey (Tippecanoe Valley) – Overbey went 7 for 9 in field goals on the year, and he finished his career with 21 field goals. But Overbey was a lot more than just a kicker. He was a stalwart on defense from his end spot, and Valley’s improvement after the losses to Hamilton Heights and Knox started when Overbey returned from a leg injury.
Liam Rouch (Pioneer) – Pioneer had a lot of undersized, scrappy players who worked hard to make the state finals. They also had the strapping, intimidating Rouch at right tackle on offense, blowing defenders off the ball and leading to long Phillip McFatridge runs.
Jonas McCuen (Culver) – McCuen was perhaps the closest thing we had to a gunslinger in our area, throwing for 622 yards and averaging 17.8 yards per completion.
Ethan Burgess (Winamac) – Burgess was a big-play threat as a senior for the Warriors, averaging more than 27 yards per reception and leading the team in receiving yards with 355. He also was third on the team in tackles with 80.
Clarence Garrett (Rochester) – The knock against Rochester defensively in previous years was that they could not keep good passing teams in check. That changed this year, and Garrett’s coverage skills and leadership had much to do with that.