Beck, Meadows score 3 TDs each, help Rochester stay unbeaten in TRC

Val T.
13 hours ago
6 min read

‘Oh my goodness, I have the ball:’ Ferverda adds pick-6 for first career score

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Trenton Meadows Callen Ferveda

Rochester defensive tackle Callen Ferverda had never intercepted a pass or scored a touchdown in an organized football game until Friday.

But Ferverda picked off a Haiden McWhirt screen pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, and Brant Beck and Trenton Meadows added three rushing touchdowns each for the Rochester football team in a 56-7 win over Wabash at Barnhart Field.

Beck ran for 206 yards on 10 carries, and Meadows had six carries for 90 yards. Alex Chapman also had a touchdown run.

Jabez Yarber recovered one fumble and forced another. Grant Clark forced the fumble that Yarber recovered, and Owen Lett recovered the fumble that Yarber forced.

Meanwhile, Rochester had no turnovers or punts.

Rochester outscored Wabash 22-0 in the second half even though they had only two offensive snaps.

The Zebras lost senior Mason Hisey, a two-way starter at left guard and defensive end, due to an apparent left knee injury in the second quarter. Hisey was on the sidelines in the second half. He had ice on his left knee and needed crutches to move.

Trevor Coplen filled in for him on offense, and Aiden Wilson and Lett filled in for him at defensive end.

“I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know, and our trainer, she can only say a few things,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said. “So everybody that filled in for him did fine.”

Rochester improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. All three of their wins have ended with a running clock, per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.

DaVon Osborn had nine receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown for Wabash, who fell to 0-4, 0-3.

Wabash, who joined the TRC in the 2006-07 school year, has never beaten Rochester in football.

Rochester was ahead 34-7 at halftime when Wabash drove from their own 20 to the 35. Having had success running a middle screen to the tailback to try and slow down Rochester’s pass rushers, quarterback Haiden McWhirt dropped back to try another.

Ferverda, a 250-pound senior, did not rush and instead stepped back into coverage.

He picked off McWhirt and shed McWhirt’s tackle attempt and raced up field and into the end zone. Meadows added a two-point conversion run to make it 42-7 and trigger the running clock.

“It was surreal,” Ferverda said. “It was a screen pass, and I caught it, and I was just like, ‘Oh my goodness, I have the ball.’ And I started running, and then McWhirt was coming at the knees, and I made a move and got around him, and I saw another guy coming at me, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to tuck and just keep praying to God that I get in there.’ I held on, stretched across the goal line, and I got a dog pile, and I saw the Zebras put their hands up. It was a touchdown, It was a very surreal moment for me.”

Wabash’s next possession would end with another turnover. Freshman receiver Jake Sailors appeared to have another first down on a wide receiver screen, but Yarber swatted the ball out of his hands, and Lett fell on it at the Wabash 45.

On the next play, the Wabash defense bought Carson Paulik’s fake to the wingback going left, but in fact, it was a handoff on a counter to Meadows to the right, and he turned the corner for a 45-yard touchdown.

“That’s the thing he does really, really well,” Shaffer said of Meadows. “He’s got long legs, great speed. We’ve just got to get him in the open field sometimes. You can see what happens when he does.”

Wabash turned the ball over after another seven-play possession, and Beck tore through a hole on the right side of the line before swerving towards the right sideline and outrunning exhausted and exasperated Apache defenders for a 65-yard touchdown.

“He’s pretty good. I will say that,” Ferverda said of Beck, who has 3,947 yards and 46 rushing touchdowns in his prep career. “But I’ve seen him at some lows, and I’ve seen him at some highs, and I will say he’s a pretty good football player. … You also have to give thanks to that o-line. We’ve been putting in a lot of work down there.”

Rochester finished with 359 yards of total offense.

“I think when you look at it, execution was pretty good,” Shaffer said. “Running the ball hard. Just kind of a string of penalties – false starts – which is a lack of concentration, and we’ve got to be better at that.”

Rochester took the opening kickoff and drove 62 yards in five plays. Beck went off guard for 30 yards on the opening play from scrimmage and followed with an 11-yard run. Meadows followed a Beck block and ran eight yards on a sweep. Quarterback Carson Paulik hit Yarber on his first pass attempt in the left flat for 12 yards down to the 1. Beck scored from the 1 on the next play, but Spencer Backus missed the extra point, keeping the score at 6-0.

On the Apaches’ second offensive snap, McWhirt tried running up the middle on a quarterback read play, but Clark knocked the ball out of his hands, and Yarber recovered at the Wabash 44.

Beck converted a third-and-10 with a 10-yard run and then followed with a five-yard run.

Clarence Garrett’s 21-yard run on a belly sweep got the ball to the 8, and Beck scored on the next play.

Paulik rolled to his left and hit Meadows for a two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

A Zakk Parks 30-yard punt return after a 33-yard Derek Reed punt kept the ball in Wabash’s end of the field at the 40. Rochester needed only five plays and 2:10 to score. Chapman, a sophomore, scored his touchdown on a 19-yard run to the right side, and Beckus added the extra point.

But then Wabash answered with a 17-play, 76-yard drive in which they kept the ball for 7:24. McWhirt found Osborn for six yards on fourth-and-4 from midfield.

On the first play of the second quarter, McWhirt hit Osborn for nine yards on third-and-8. Three plays later, facing a third-and-14 after a false start penalty, McWhirt hit Baldwin on a screen for 16 yards and a first down to the Rochester 22.

On fourth-and-3 from the 15, McWhirt hit Osborn again for five yards to keep the drive going.

And two plays later, McWhirt faced a Zebra blitz and lofted an 11-yard touchdown pass over the blitz to Osborn, who adjusted to the ball against man-to-man coverage.

“I think that says it all,” Shaffer said when told of Osborn’s stats for the game. “A pretty good player. A lot of quick stuff. He’s been starting for awhile, and he’s a guy that finds spots in the zone. He played well, and we had some breakdowns in coverage. So a good game for him.”

Rochester needed only 30 seconds to answer. After the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds at midfield, Beck ran 47 yards, weaving through would-be tacklers down to the 3. Meadows scored on the next play to make it 28-7.

Wabash went for it on fourth-and-7 from their own 33 on their next drive, but McWhirt’s pass intended for Osborn behind the defense just glanced off his fingertips and landed incomplete.

Meadows followed with a 20-yard run down to the 13, but Hisey needed to be helped off the field. Three consecutive Rochester penalties for illegal motion or procedure pushed the ball back 15 yards to the 28.

Beck followed with a 21-yard run, dragging defenders down to the 7. Meadows followed with a touchdown run on a sweep to the right to make it 34-7 with 2:47 left in the half.

In other TRC action Friday, Lewis Cass beat Manchester 18-14. Like the Zebras, Lewis Cass is 3-0 in the TRC and will travel to Barnhart next Friday. Maconaquah blanked Whitko 62-0 and is also 3-0 in the TRC.

Rochester 56, Wabash 7

Wabash 0 7 0 0 – 7

Rochester 21 13 15 7 – 56

First quarter

RHS – Brant Beck 1 run (kick failed)

RHS – Beck 8 run (Trenton Meadows pass from Carson Paulik)

RHS – Alex Chapman 19 run (Spencer Backus kick)

Second quarter

WAB – DaVon Osborn 11 pass from Haiden McWhirt (Michael LePage kick)

RHS – Trenton Meadows 3 run (Backus kick)

RHS – Meadows 7 run (pass failed)

Third quarter