Rochester squanders 12-point lead, falls on Homecoming to Peru

Val T.

2 minutes ago

5 min read

Holloway runs for 107 yards; Shotts, Meadows have TD runs

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Trenton Meadows Grant Holloway

Grant Holloway ran for a team-high 107 yards, and he also caught two passes for a team-high 22 yards, but visiting Peru rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to beat Rochester on their homecoming 21-12 Friday.

Trenton Meadows ran 12 times for 79 yards and a touchdown, and Kale Shotts had 20 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown.

But Rochester also committed three turnovers, and Peru turned the last two of those takeaways into points.

Quarterback Aiden Sheets ran for two touchdowns, and Lukas Ulery also had a touchdown for the Tigers, who scored on their first three possessions of the second half.

Peru improved to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. Rochester fell to 3-3, 2-2.

Rochester has dropped back-to-back games for the first time since their winless season of 2020.

Peru had lost the last two years to the Zebras by a combined score of 88-6.

With Rochester trailing 14-12, Weston Marks intercepted Rochester quarterback Mitchell Clark on a rollout to the right with 1:10 left in the third quarter at the Peru 43.

On the next play, Sheets went off right tackle for a 57-yard touchdown, and Zion See tacked on the extra point to give Peru a two-possession lead.

A 22-yard Holloway run and a 13-yard Holloway reception from Clark helped move the ball from their own 12 to the Peru 37.

Holloway went around the left side on a sweep and gained 7 yards, but Peru’s Kasen Hiles stripped him at the 30 and the ball rolled 15 yards downfield before Peru’s Kole Atkins recovered at the Peru 15 with 9:26 left.

“I think Grant Holloway will tell you that he would rather have 50 less yards and not fumble that football,” Rochester coach Isaac Shaffer said. “So he’s just one of those kids that he does all the little things right. Peru just made a play, and we just had to live with it.”

Peru then milked the remainder of the clock, going on a 16-play drive that moved them 80 yards to the Rochester 5 before Sheets took a knee on the final two snaps.

Peru got five first downs on the drive, two of which came by penalty.

One penalty was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after an official spotted a Rochester player making an obscene gesture in the direction of the Peru stands after an incomplete pass that would have made it fourth-and-5.

The other was an offsides penalty on third-and-3 in which Sheets got a Rochester defensive lineman to jump on a hard count.

A 21-yard run from Ulery on fourth-and-13 from the Rochester 26 secured the Peru victory.

“It was just one thing after another of just things we didn’t capitalize on when we had the chance, holding onto the ball, and I didn’t make the adjustments as fast as I should have,” Shaffer said of the second half change in momentum.

Peru started the game with the ball but punted on their first two drives, netting only one first down and 16 total yards.

Defensively, Rochester played closer to the line and regular linebacker Shotts put his hand on the ground and played defensive tackle. Meanwhile, Tanner Horn saw more time at safety, and linebacker Holloway played closer to the line of scrimmage.

Rochester’s first drive ended with Mason Oliver fumbling after a reception on fourth down, but their second drive was a 13-play, 86-yard trek.

A 21-yard screen pass from Clark to Aiden Wilson was negated by an illegal procedure penalty, but Holloway followed with a 13-yard run. An 8-yard Meadows run got a first down, and Shotts followed with a 9-yard run on the last play of the first quarter.

Meadows gained three yards and a first down on the first play of the second quarter, and Holloway followed with a 35-yard run on power, following Clark’s block and scurrying down the middle of the field before Hiles ran him down at the Peru 2.

Shotts scored two plays later from the 1.

On the ensuing drive, Peru drove from their own 40 to the Rochester 6 with help from a 25-yard run from Kingston Eldridge and a 12-yard run from Ulery.

But on first-and-goal from the 6, Ulery mishandled a direct snap and dropped it. He fell on top of it but could not secure it, and Rochester’s Oliver eventually fell on it at the Zebra 17.

Ulery received brief medical attention for his awkward fall on the ball but later returned.

Rochester then answered with another 12-play, 83-yard sojourn.

Meadows started with an 18-yard run. Meadows later converted a fourth-and-2, squeezing out just enough yards on a cutback to get the ball to the Peru 45. Two plays later, Holloway ran for 11 yards and a first down.

And three plays after that, Meadows followed a Shotts block on a power to the right side and shed a Marks tackle attempt for a 26-yard score with 1:05 left in the half.

Rochester had the ball to start the second half, but Shotts was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 from their own 35.

“We came out, we had a fourth-and-1, and we have a specific call that we make for trading, and so what that means is we’re moving our tight end (Wilson) from one side to the other to make their defense adjust, and so based off what we knew about them, based on that trade is how we wanted to hit that play on fourth down,” Shaffer said. “We didn’t get the trade, and then because of that, they didn’t move where we wanted them to. We didn’t have our guys aligned right. They stuffed that. And then from there, ”

Peru drove four plays for their first score with a 19-yard pass from Sheets to Hiles preceding Ulery’s 14-yard touchdown run.

Rochester punted on their next drive, and Peru responded with a five-play, 82-yard touchdown drive with Sheets speeding down the right sideline on a keeper for the final 65 yards to give Peru a 14-12 lead.

For the third quarter, Peru had 174 total yards on 10 offensive snaps.

“They actually went to the weak side where they had less guys,” Shaffer said of Sheets’ touchdown runs. “They actually changed who leads for them on those plays, and so we had to adjust the way we were reading our keys. So that was a good job by their coaching staff to see that.”

Zebra notes

Owen Lett started the game wearing No. 84 and ended it wearing No. 69. Rochester was called for an illegal procedure penalty on the two-point conversion attempt after Shotts’ touchdown, and the penalty was related to Lett’s uniform number. He left the field to change jerseys, and Barrett Brown replaced him on the two-point conversion attempt from the 8-yard line.

Shaffer took responsibility for Lett wearing the wrong number.

“I was unfamiliar with the rule that you have to have five numbers that are ineligible receivers,” Shaffer said. “So we had to switch his number at halftime, so he could have an ineligible number. So we’ll have to make that adjustment going forward. Again, that’s on me with not knowing the rules, and it cost us a two-point conversion.”

Two-way lineman Camden Susaraba missed his second straight game with an ankle injury.
Makenna McKee and Brady Coleman were named Homecoming Queen and King.
The FFA sponsored a pork chop dinner before the game.

Peru 21, Rochester 12

Peru 0 0 21 0 – 21

Rochester 0 12 0 0 – 12

First quarter

(no scoring)

Second quarter

RHS – Kale Shotts 1 run (pass failed)

RHS – Trenton Meadows 26 run (run failed)

Third quarter

PERU – Lukas Ulery 14 run (Zion See kick)

PERU – Aiden Sheets 65 run (See kick)

PERU – Sheets 57 run (See kick)