Week 3 preview: Rochester looks to lock up Laukhuf, continue mastery of Whitko

Valley road trip continues at winless Hamilton Heights; NM, Caston surging offensively; Pioneer looks to bounce back vs. winless Winamac; Culver to take on Triton

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester (1-1, 1-0 Three Rivers Conference) at Whitko (1-1, 0-1), 7 p.m.

The Rochester football team did much well against Tippecanoe Valley in a 7-2 loss in the Bell game last week. They held Valley scoreless over the final three quarters, and they held them without a first down over the final 21 minutes.

A controversial call did not go their way – what they thought was a fumble recovery at the Valley 1-yard line was ruled an incomplete pass by the officials – but they also committed three turnovers in the second half, and while there was not an abundance of penalties, they were poorly timed, according to coach Ron Shaffer.

Shaffer also wants the passing game honed. Rochester only has 37 passing yards total through two games, and senior split end Zakk Parks, possibly the fastest player on the team, has touched the ball once in two games.

“We’re not real happy with our passing game right now,” Shaffer said. “It’s not where we want it to be. So as coaches, we’ve got to get better and demand more out of our players to get better at it. … There were a couple times early where we were able to throw when we wanted to, but then later in the game, we had to throw the ball when we had to, and that’s not within our strategy in what we want to do. That’s not what we do. So it became a game where they could sit back and didn’t have to bring so much pressure late into the run game. So basically the passing game was nil for us.”

Still, Rochester matched up with perhaps their most physically imposing opponent.

“I thought we played really strong through most of the game,” Shaffer said. “I’ll just say that. We felt that we got them tired. We thought that we played very physical, and I thought we took our physicality to them, but they were better on specific plays, or in our execution, it didn’t always shine through. But yeah, I think our kids conditioning-wise were in a good position by the end of the game.”

The Zebras will look to bounce back against a Whitko team that they have beaten four straight times by a combined score of 196-18. That included a 49-12 rout at Barnhart Field last year.

First-year Whitko coach Thomas Tyree comes over from Southwood, where he went 0-10 last season. Shaffer said Whitko's 2025 defense resembles Southwood’s 2024 defense – a 4-4 defense with the secondary in a three-deep zone.

“They kind of play it straight up,” Shaffer said. “I think we’ll see them drop a guy down on the nose and sacrifice an inside backer some, maybe in short yardage or all the time. But mainly an even four-man front with four backers.”

The Whitko offense would appear to be more productive. Last year, their season high for points in a game was 16; this year, they are averaging 26 points per game through two games, and they are doing it with freshman quarterback Cooper Laukhuf.

Laukhuf has thrown five touchdown passes in two games. Last year, Whitko had three touchdown passes all season.

But it is also true that Laukhuf threw two interceptions in a 32-22 loss to Peru last week, and one of them was returned for a touchdown.

“Big left-hander,” Shaffer said of Laukhuf. “He’s got about a 50% or better completion ratio. … Big arm. He throws the ball really well downfield. Simple route combinations, and they just get people open. I think he’s handling things well, and he runs well. I think he has close to 90 yards rushing in two games, and I think we saw him run the ball more in game two than he did in game one. So a lot of that work came in the second game against Peru. He’s 6-3, 190 pounds – big kid. But he’s still a freshman. So for us, we’ve got to make him make fast decisions and put him under pressure.”

Laukhuf also has 19 carries for 88 yards rushing. He ranks second on the team behind fellow freshman Mason Hersha, and third-leading rusher Lewis Skinner is yet another freshman.

Top receiving threats include senior Landon Smith and junior Jericho Boston.

Shaffer said Jabez Yarber will return after missing the Valley game due to a suspension. Trenton Meadows and Callen Ferverda, who played through cramps against Valley, are fine and will play.

Now it is about how they will bounce back after a heartbreaking loss.

“I think with everything that happened Friday night, obviously we’re not satisfied or happy, but our coaching staff and the players do a really good job, and we preach it all the time is that we can’t get too high when things are good and you can’t get too low when things are bad,” Shaffer said. “Our kids have put the loss behind them, not that they’re still plays they’re kicking themselves about or thinking about or whatever. But they’re in a good state of mind. We’ve had a good week of practice so far, and we have a conference ahead of us that we’ve got to get going on. For us to achieve our goals, we have to switch our mindset to Whitko and get going.”

Tippecanoe Valley (2-0) at Hamilton Heights (0-2), 7 p.m.

Valley retained the Bell yet again with a 7-2 win over Rochester at Barnhart Field last week. They had as many interceptions – one by Hudson Shepherd, one by Owen Omondi – as completions allowed and also got a critical fourth-down stop on a Trenton Meadows sweep at their own 3-yard-line while hanging on to a 7-0 lead.

In two games, they have allowed five points.

But Valley’s offensive output dipped from 278 yards in a 20-3 win over Plymouth in the opener to just 170 yards last week, and they did not get a first down over the final 21 minutes. Coach Stephen Moriarty also said his team seemed tired afterwards. He also said more players are playing two ways than he thought before the season started.

“I do think fatigue was an issue,” Moriarty said. “We were wore out. That was a hard-fought game and giving everything you have every play. It takes it out of you, and they’re a good, physical team. So it’s hard to go a length of the game like that. I do think defensively we need to rotate more on the defensive line front and try to get some of those players that do play two ways out of the game earlier.”

He said he was less agitated after watching game film.

“Games like this, being a rival game and we had everything to lose and we had nothing to lose, kind of weighed on our shoulders,” Moriarty said. “And the players, they felt like we could have played a little bit better. And at the same time, they’re exhausted. Going back and watching film, I wasn’t as upset as I was after the game. A win is a win. We need to clean up some things, but in a Bell game, you just take it however you can get it.

One of the key playmakers helping out both ways is senior Wes Parker as both a running back and in the defensive secondary.

“I think his work ethic in the offseason is really what’s sprung him forward,” Moriarty said. “He spent a lot of time in the weight room, and I think being a senior, you see some of that responsibility weigh heavy on those seniors, and especially Wes. He leads well. He does by example, and he’s been able to understand the concepts that have been given (to him). You can see the increase in his speed. His vision as a tailback has greatly improved. He’s just stepped up to be one of those players you have to have and can count on.”

Valley’s season-opening three-game road swing concludes with a trip to Arcadia and a meeting with winless Hamilton Heights. Had these teams met in 2023, they might have commiserated: Both teams had undefeated regular seasons, and both lost to eventual state champion Indianapolis Chatard in the sectional.

While Valley’s football program blossomed during their days in the TRC, Hamilton Heights’ did during their days in the Mid-Indiana Conference, typically traveling north to play teams like Peru, Maconaquah and Lewis Cass. But while Valley has not won a sectional since 1992, Hamilton Heights has won seven sectionals since 1995.

While Valley’s central figures in its history are Charley Smith, Scott Bibler and Jeff Shriver, Hamilton Heights’ would appear to be more varied.

A key figure is Steve Stirn, who coached Hamilton Heights to four straight sectional titles from 2002-05 while also collecting a regional in 2003. (Stirn is now at North Decatur, where he has won four more sectional titles.)

Jason Simmons coached Hamilton Heights to an undefeated regular season and a sectional title in 2010 before a loss to Indianapolis Chatard in the regional. Mitch Street coached Hamilton Heights’ best team, the 2012 team that lost its opener to archrival Tipton before reeling off 13 straight wins and making it to Lucas Oil Stadium before a Class 3A state title game loss to – that constant thorn in the side – Indianapolis Chatard.

The current coach is Jon Kirschner, now in his eighth season and part of a strong football pedigree. His father Mike, an Indiana Football Hall of Famer, is an assistant on his staff after retiring as the Warren Central coach in 2024. Mike Kirschner won state titles at Ben Davis in 2014 and 2017 and 10 sectional titles in his coaching career. He also had coaching stints at Cascade, Mount Vernon (Fortville) and Warren Central.

Jon’s high school coach at Ben Davis was another Hall of Famer, Dick Dullaghan, and he played on state championship teams as a sophomore and junior.

The Huskies’ losses have been to Class 2A, No. 4 Lapel and Class 2A, No. 7 Triton Central. Hamilton Heights hung within 14-13 last week before Triton Central scored two late touchdowns to win 28-13.

Moriarty remarked on the tough schedule that Hamilton Heights has played thus far.

“Their competition has been tough,” Moriarty said. “They’ve played two really good teams to start off 0-2, and they played them to the very end. I think that their defense is something to hang their hat on. They come after you. They blitz a lot. They’re a 3-4, but it sometimes looks like a 3-5 almost the way they roll up and blitz those linebackers. We’re going to have to be prepared to pick up blitzes and to get the ball moving.”

Hamilton Heights ran the ball 24 times and threw it 31 times against Triton Central.

“They do have that same style of offense as Plymouth does where they do like to spread you out a lot, and they run a lot of zone plays, zone reads with their running plays,” Moriarty said. “I would say they are more of a spread team that passes the ball that runs sometimes. But they have been a little bit more equal.”

Moriarty said Gage Overbey will be a game-time decision with “an awful sore leg” suffered against Rochester.

North Miami (2-0, 0-0 Hoosier North) at Caston (1-1, 0-0), 7 p.m.

• North Miami is averaging 45.5 points per game and 385.5 yards rushing per game after wins over Northfield and Wabash. They have moved up to No. 6 in this week’s Class 1A USA Today media poll. Ryan Meredith is averaging 27.9 yards per carry, Lake Musall is averaging 25.9 yards per carry, and quarterback Hartley Hoover is averaging 16.5 yards per carry. Those three have 12 rushing touchdowns between them.

• Caston is coming off a 55-0 win over North White last week. The 55 points were the most in Chris Ulerick’s 23 seasons as coach, and the shutout was the first for the Caston defense in five years.

• North Miami has won six of the last seven meetings against Caston, but the last time North Miami traveled to Caston, the Comets won 34-28 in the 2020 sectional quarterfinals.

Pioneer (1-1, 0-0 Hoosier North) at Winamac (0-2, 0-0), 7 p.m.

• Pioneer is coming off a 38-20 loss to Knox last week that dropped them to No. 14 in this week’s Class 1A USA Today media poll. Sectional rivals Carroll (Flora) and Frontier are Nos. 8 and 11, respectively.

• Winamac is coming off a 54-21 loss to Frontier. This marks the seventh time in the last 10 years that Winamac has started 0-2. 

• Pioneer has outscored Winamac 111-0 the last three years. Pioneer has shut Winamac out in seven of their last nine meetings.

• Can a Pioneer offense averaging 227.5 yards per game move the ball on a Winamac defense that allowed 549 yards against Frontier last week?

Triton (1-1, 0-0 Hoosier North) at Culver (1-1, 0-0), 7 p.m.

• Triton topped Bremen 14-0 last week. They had been 2-14 in their previous 16 meetings against Bremen. The win helped them bounce back after a season-opening 28-0 loss to LaVille. It marked the first time in at least the last 30 years that Triton has shut out Bremen.

• Culver is coming off a 32-6 loss to West Central last week in which they did not score after the first quarter.

• Triton has won the last six meetings with Culver and has not lost to them since 2019.