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Val T.

Week 9 preview: Zebras look to stop Maconaquah’s air raid without injured McKee

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester (7-1, 6-1 TRC) at Maconaquah (6-2, 6-1), 7 p.m.

The Class 2A, No. 8 Rochester football team allowed 450 yards to Northfield in a 42-33 win two weeks ago but slowed North Miami down to 179 yards and no offensive touchdowns in a 46-6 win last week.

“It was playing a lot more physical up front and playing a little bit better assignment football,” Rochester coach Ron Shaffer said. “It’s kind of a different beast because they liked to put Austin Smith in the ‘I’ some, and they are fairly predictable when he’s in the ‘I’ of what they’re going to do. And so we were able to get a little bit of a leg up just by film study and tendencies when they’re in the ‘I,’ so the kids executed that a little bit better than what they did against Northfield. … Overall, we tackled better, got to the ball better and played a little more physical up front.”

Now they will try to stop Maconaquah’s “air raid” offense, which relies on quarterback Braxton Birner and wide receivers A.J. Kelly, Fuddy Kile and Kaleb Shelton.

Birner attempts 36 passes per game and completes 68 percent of them. Kelly has a team-high 67 receptions and averages 101 yards receiving per game, and Kile averages 116 yards receiving per game. Shelton averages nearly six catches per game.

“One thing we’ve noticed definitely is they try to get the ball to Kelly on what we call a jailbreak screen and a now screen,” Shaffer said. “He’s really good at that. It’s like throwing the ball out there and turning it into a mini-punt return is what a jailbreak is like. They want to get him to open space.

“Fuddy Kile, he can do about all of it. He’s really good deep down the field. He can run a screen. He can run the intermediate routes, the crossing routes. A really nice player. Both him and Kelly are premier receivers and players in our conference. Probably the nod goes to Kelly on speed; it seems like possession and downfield is a little more Kile’s thing.”

Offensively, Rochester hopes to continue the efficiency against Maconaquah that they had against North Miami. They had 385 yards of offense, scored on all five second-half possessions, punted only once and committed no turnovers.

Colton Ferverda had a career-high 159 rushing yards, much of it coming on toss plays to the right side of the line. Brant Beck added 110 yards on four carries, and Alex Deming had 98 yards.

“Colton really runs the ball hard, and he was really doing well,” Shaffer said. “The right side of the line was doing well, and it was just how the game matured and came to us. But we like to establish Colton quite a bit. He’s really starting to come into his own, but we’ll take what the defense gives us, and at that point, it was power, jets and rockets on the perimeter, our belly sweep.”

Rochester will have one less option in the backfield. Gavin McKee, a wingback who also plays linebacker on defense, suffered a fractured fibula against North Miami and is out for “quite awhile,” according to Shaffer.

Rochester beat Maconaquah 44-12 last year at Barnhart Field. Rochester is 0-4 in Bunker Hill since Maconaquah joined the TRC in 2015.

The winner of this game will share the TRC title if Southwood beats Tippecanoe Valley.


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