Beck, Shotts run for over 100 yards, help Rochester roll past Southwood

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brant Beck Clarence Garrett Grant Holloway

WABASH — Brant Beck ran for 131 yards and a touchdown, and Kale Shotts ran for 125 yards and three touchdowns as the Rochester football team rolled to a 42-0 win over host Southwood Friday.

Grant Holloway also ran for two touchdowns in his first varsity game for Rochester.

Rochester beat Southwood for the fourth straight year and shut them out for the third straight year. Rochester also won their season opener for the fourth straight year.

Rochester scored on their first six possessions. The entire second half was played with a running clock per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.

Defensively, Rochester limited the Knights to one first down, and Clarence Garrett had an interception. Southwood has lost 12 straight games dating back to the 2023 season.

Rochester will host Tippecanoe Valley in the Bell game next Friday. Valley defeated Plymouth 20-3 Friday.

“Pretty good,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said in assessing the defense. “Flew to the football. I thought everybody played assignment football. Knew where to line up. Played inspired football, which was nice, and on top of that, tackled well. I really thought we tackled really well tonight.”

The first play of the season resulted with Beck, lining up as a wingback, running 16 yards around the left perimeter on a toss sweep. Two plays later, Trenton Meadows ran for 17 yards.

Then, Beck, lining up as a fullback, ran for 25 yards down to the 10. Holloway ran 10 yards for a touchdown from his right wingback spot on the first varsity carry of his career.

After a three-and-out, Beck ran for 44 yards off right tackle for a touchdown on the next Zebra possession.

Rochester’s longest drive was an 85-yard haul after forcing a Southwood punt on their second possession.

Beck started the drive with a 22-yard run, and a Southwood facemask penalty tacked on 15 more yards and moved the ball to the Knight 48. Shotts followed with runs of 8 and 11 yards. A Jabez Yarber 9-yard run moved the ball to the Southwood 20.

Shotts would eventually convert a fourth-and-5 with a 6-yard run on the second play of the second quarter, and Holloway would add a 6-yard touchdown run on the next play. Beck added a two-point conversion run to make it 20-0.

After another Southwood three-and-out, a holding penalty negated Zakk Parks’ 57-yard punt return. Still, Rochester took over at the Southwood 39, and back-to-back 11-yard runs from Beck and Shotts and a 9-yard run from Meadows got the Zebras to the Southwood 8.

Three plays later, Shotts powered his way in off right tackle from the Southwood 2, and Yarber added a two-point conversion run to make it 28-0.

Rochester executed a two-minute drill on their fifth possession. After a 9-yard completion from Carson Paulik to Zakk Parks, Meadows ran 3 yards for a first down. After an incomplete pass, Holloway ran for 3 yards, but Rochester was called for both illegal helmet contact and an unsportsmanlike conduct personal foul.

The resulting 30 yards in penalties gave Rochester a second-and-32, but Shotts went up the middle on a trap call 61 yards for a touchdown, and Beck added a two-point conversion run.

“I’ve been working my butt off,” Shotts said of his offseason. “Speed, physical stuff, just being in the gym. I’ve been working out a lot – speed training at weights and just all that good stuff.”

While Southwood’s passing plays consisted of quick screens, quarterback Maddox Marshall tried a deeper pass play on the third play of the third quarter, but Garrett intercepted him and took it 31 yards down the Southwood sideline to the Knight 20.

Shotts scored on the next play to make it 42-0.

In addition to Holloway, other varsity newcomers included Jack Reffett, who started at inside linebacker; and Declan Gard, who started at left tackle on offense.

Reffett’s ability to play inside linebacker alongside Ethan Bailey moved Beck to outside linebacker.

Beck quickly squelched multiple screen passes and perimeter runs.

“I like having Brant at outside for sure,” Shaffer said. “We’ll have to evaluate – a lot going on. We’ll look at film. Initially, Jack’s still learning the game and getting his feet wet. It was nice to have a game like this. We’ll evaluate, but overall, we think he did a pretty good job.”

In addition to Gard, a new starter on the offensive line was sophomore center Derek Wortley. They joined returnees Mason Hisey at left guard, Callen Ferverda at right guard and Matt Crossland at right tackle.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” Shaffer said. “It’s game one. So the biggest thing was we fired off hard. We got after it. There were some execution errors, but they made up for it with effort tonight. Execution, we’re probably still in the average range for sure.”

Rochester had 13 seniors as compared to Southwood’s seven.

“We’ve got it all,” Shotts said of his older teammates. “We’ve got really good leaders. All of our seniors are really good. They’re good leaders. They’re always getting on the freshmen. The freshmen just don’t know when to stop messing around, but the seniors fixed that.”

Yarber and Southwood’s Poncho Lopez were ejected for fighting in the second quarter on Shotts’ 61-yard touchdown run. By rule, both will be suspended for their next game.

Rochester 42, Southwood 0

Rochester 12 24 6 0 – 42

Southwood 0 0 0 0 – 0

First quarter

RHS – Grant Holloway 10 run (run failed)

RHS – Brant Beck 44 run (run failed)

Second quarter

RHS – Holloway 6 run (Beck run)

RHS – Kale Shotts 2 run (Jabez Yarber run)

RHS – Shotts 61 run (Beck run)

Third quarter

RHS – Shotts 20 run (kick blocked)

Fourth quarter

(no scoring)