‘Physical’ Lewis Cass breaks Zebras’ 10-game TRC winning streak
Shotts: 19 carries, 96 yards; Lett: 2 fumble recoveries
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Kale Shotts Owen Lett
WALTON — The Lewis Cass football team that Rochester pushed around the last three years is a thing of the past.
Connyr Mack ran for 166 yards and a touchdown, and the Lewis Cass defense held the visiting Zebras to 195 yards of offense and forced four turnovers in getting a 28-8 win Friday.
Lewis Cass had been 0-3 against Rochester since joining the Three Rivers Conference in 2023, and they allowed 43 points per game in those three losses.
But this time, while Rochester senior fullback Kale Shotts ran for 96 yards on 19 carries, they also held halfback Trenton Meadows to just 51 yards of total offense – it helped that a 31-yard touchdown pass to Meadows in the fourth quarter was nullified by a penalty – and Grant Holloway to just 18.
“They were really physical,” Rochester coach Isaac Shaffer said. “You can tell that they put time in the weight room. Yeah, they were stronger and more physical than we were. We had to be precise with our steps on where we stepped for our different rules blocking-wise, and it took a half to do that, and they jumped out and got us there, and then it was just a dogfight until the end and just ran out of time.”
Meanwhile, senior Tyler Foley starred for Lewis Cass. He had a touchdown run on offense, and he also intercepted two passes and batted another pass down on fourth down on defense.
Lewis Cass improved to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the TRC. Rochester dropped to 3-2, 2-1.
Their 10-game conference winning streak is over. Their last conference loss was at Maconaquah in 2024.
In other TRC games Friday, Maconaquah beat Peru 63-42, and Northwestern thrashed Whitko 59-12. That leaves Maconaquah and Northwestern as the last two undefeated teams in the conference. Those two teams will meet in Bunker Hill next week.
Rochester trailed 20-0 in the third quarter when Holloway returned a kickoff to the 50. That triggered a 13-play drive. They converted two fourth downs, one on a pass interference penalty when Liam Spence was grabbed in coverage and one on a 7-yard run from Shotts on fourth-and-3 from the 25.
Two plays later, Shotts ran 10 yards down to the 5, and three plays after that, Meadows turned the corner on a sweep from the 2 for a touchdown.
Shotts bulled his way in for a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 20-8.
Rochester failed to recover the ensuing onside kick but took over on downs with 1:35 left when Gavin Pinder and Kale Shotts combined to stop Mack for 2 yards on fourth-and-3.
A 21-yard pass from Mitchell Clark to Meadows got the ball in Lewis Cass territory at the 44, but two plays later, Foley intercepted an underthrown deep ball intended for Spence at the Lewis Cass 10.
Rochester would get another chance to carve into the lead when Gavin Pinder forced a fumble, yanking it out of Zion Grogg’s hands. The ball hurtled back five yards, and Rochester’s Owen Lett recovered at the Lewis Cass 30 with 10:51 left.
But an illegal formation penalty on fourth-and-11 nullified a touchdown pass from Clark to Meadows.
“I don’t know,” Shaffer said. “I didn’t even get an explanation. They said that Mason Oliver was offsides, and I asked if he checked with him, and he said yes, so I don’t know how you check with the ref and be offsides. But that hurt. That would have made it 14 to 20 with five or six minutes left. While we were able to force turnovers, we gave the ball right back to them, and you can’t have that.”
Clark then threw incomplete on a pass intended for Mason Oliver on fourth-and-16 that Foley batted down to end the possession.
After forcing a punt, Rochester took over on their own 8. A pass interference penalty on Lewis Cass negated a Foley interception, but on fourth-and-9 from their own 24, Lewis Cass’ Hunter Sellers and Brinxston Jones combined to swallow up Clark and force a fumble, which Julian Fisher recovered at the Rochester 5.
Eli Grist scored the game’s final touchdown on a 3-yard run with 1:15 left.
“I think you more have to assess just how tough the kid is,” Shaffer said of Clark, who took several hits and once received medical attention from trainer Catherine Hughes. “He’s a really tough kid. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to throw when he did throw, and there was usually a guy that was smacking him right after a couple seconds of throwing the ball. I’ll go back and watch the film on how he kind of assessed everything, but I was just very pleased with his toughness.”
After an opening three-and-out from the Zebras, Lewis Cass drove 59 yards in eight plays. Cole Rush capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Sellers one play after the Kings were called for a holding penalty.
A 22-yard Shotts run and a 10-yard completion from Clark to Holloway on fourth-and-4 highlighted Rochester’s 12-play drive that followed, but the drive ended when Foley picked off Clark on a pass to the left on fourth-and-4 from the 17 and returned it to the 11.
Mack had a 25-yard run on the last play of the first quarter, and Rush had a 21-yard run on the first play of the second quarter.
Lewis Cass would eventually work the ball down to the Rochester 6, but Lett recovered a fumble that he forced with a hard hit on Mack.
Rochester would drive to their own 23 when Shaffer elected to go for it on fourth-and-3. The play call was a trap for fullback Shotts, but linebackers Jones and Brecken Smith wrestled him down a yard short of the first down.
Lewis Cass took advantage of the good field position, driving 25 yards on five plays for a touchdown on Foley’s 7-yard run.
A sack and a forced fumble on Clark caused another turnover, but Rochester held their ground, stopping Grist for a 5-yard loss on the last play of the half.
But on the second play of the second half, Mack ran for 12 yards and a 15-yard facemask penalty tacked onto the end of the play moved the ball to the Rochester 33. Two plays later, Mack ran 28 yards for a touchdown on a trap, and he tacked on a two-point conversion to make it 20-0.
Zebra notes
Rochester played without starting two-way lineman Camden Susaraba, who was out with an ankle injury.
“Big time,” Shaffer answered when asked how much the team missed him. “You could tell with their quarterback sneak and things like that. ‘Sus’ is a big body that doesn’t get moved easily. With not having him, that was a problem for us.”
Shaffer is a 2016 Lewis Cass grad. His teams went 34-13 during his high school career.
“I’ve done it already one time,” Shaffer said of coaching the visiting team against his alma mater. “You know, a lot of good memories here. This is certainly not going to be one of them. But it’s good to be here and see some old faces and friends and different things like that, but I would have liked to come out with a win tonight.”
Lewis Cass 28, Rochester 8
Rochester 0 0 8 0 – 8
Lewis Cass 6 6 8 8 – 28
First quarter
LC – Hunter Sellers 15 pass from Cole Rush (run failed)
Second quarter
LC – Tyler Foley 7 run (pass failed)
Third quarter
LC – Connyr Mack 28 run (Mack run)
RHS – Trenton Meadows 2 run (Kale Shotts run)
Fourth quarter
LC – Eli Grist 3 run (Foley run)
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