Richmond-Burton bounces back with blowout win against Johnsburg

JOHNSBURG – A long and quiet drive home from Morris last week helped propel Richmond-Burton on Friday night.

The Rockets responded to a rare regular-season loss as they powered their way to touchdowns on their first six drives and had a shorter and much more enjoyable trip home after a 48-0 Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Blue Division football victory at Johnsburg.

“We had a tough loss against Morris (35-7) and we used that as fuel for this game,” said R-B senior fullback Braxtin Nellessen after rushing for 161 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries and catching a 5-yard pass from J.T. Groh for a score.

“It took a lot of guys by surprise and it (stunk),” linebacker Luke Rendtorff said of the Rockets’ first regular-season loss since 2018. “No one was really used to it and our energy was probably the main point. We came out strong, came out fast and ended fast.”

We talk about never letting a loss go to waste and using it to improve your deficiencies. We talked about improving our energy level and effort. We had a good week of practice and I’m very pleased with the shutout.”

—  Mike Noll, R-B coach

Richmond-Burton (6-1, 4-0), which is ranked No. 7 in the Class 4A Associated Press state poll, got the only points it needed on Nellessen’s 4-yard touchdown run 3:01 into the game. Rentdorff’s forced fumble recovered by Ryan Wisniewski led to Groh’s perfect 17-yard strike to tight end Luke Bresnahan in the end zone.

A 1-yard touchdown run by Daniel Kalinowski put the Rockets up 21-0 with 4:25 left in the first quarter.

“It was momentum and everyone was hyped we got the ball back to the offense,” Rendtorff said of the forced fumble.

“We had the fuel that lit the fire,” Nellessen said. “We came out here ready to play, ran fast and played R-B brand football.”

Johnsburg (2-5, 0-5) drove to the R-B 4 but it ended with a botched snap on a field goal attempt that was stuffed by Kalinowski. The Rockets then drove 88 yards in 14 plays and 5:29 behind Pat Willin, Adam Schuler, Logan Garcia, Mitchell Kelly and Jake Quentrall-Quezada for Nellessen’s 6-yard touchdown.

R-B rushed for 303 of its 343 total yards and Nellessen’s 1-yard touchdown run capped a 62-yard drive for a 42-0 lead that started a running clock just 3:03 after halftime. Groh completed all four of his passes and sophomore Luke Johnson (9 carries, 52 yards) capped the scoring on a 3-yard run with 7:04 to play.

“We talk about never letting a loss go to waste and using it to improve your deficiencies,” said R-B coach Mike Noll. “We talked about improving our energy level and effort. We had a good week of practice and I’m very pleased with the shutout.”

Johnsburg had a late threat to get on the scoreboard stopped 4 yards short as time ran out in its fifth consecutive loss. Junior quarterback A.J. Bravieri was 10-for-26 passing for 211 yards but also was hurt by a number of dropped passes.

“Credit to R-B, they’re a really good football team,” said Johnsburg coach Sam Lesniak. “Their kids play really hard and they performed well. Any time you play R-B you’ve gotta be ready to strap it up and be ready for a physical game.”