Richmond-Burton keeps it all clean in victory over Marengo

MARENGO – Richmond-Burton football coach Mike Noll, always a perfectionist, likely will find some aspects to critique about his team’s victory over Marengo.

But the Rockets’ efficiency on the field will make finding faults somewhat of a challenge.

R-B’s scored on every possession except the last one of the game, while the defense held Marengo to 140 total yards as the Rockets beat the Indians 42-0 in their Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Conference Blue Division game Thursday at Rod Poppe Fields.

“Last week [a 25-6 win over Quincy Notre Dame], we made seven or eight mistakes on offense, so we wanted to clean that up,” Noll said. “We executed very well.

“We had some decent balance, got the fullback game going and that’s kind of the driving force for everything else. The O-line played well. We controlled the line of scrimmage.”

[ Photos: Richmond-Burton vs. Marengo in Week 3 football ]

R-B (3-0, 1-0), ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press Class 4A poll, racked up 369 yards of offense and scored on its first six possessions. The defense preserved the shutout with a fourth-quarter stop after the Indians (1-2, 0-1) drove to the Rockets’ 6-yard line, but quarterback David Lopez’s pass fell incomplete in the end zone.

“Offensively we dominated, we ran the ball hard every single play and got those extra yards,” Rockets tight end-safety Max Loveall said. “We completed all our passes and made that first guy miss, that’s all you can ask right there.

“We stopped the pass pretty well. We should have held them down a little more, but we held them to zero points. We have to be happy about that.”

Running back Jack Martens raced 53 yards to start the scoring. Then, Loveall caught a 36-yard scoring pass from JT Groh to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.

Fullback Braxtin Nellessen (17 rushes, 134 yards) carried for three second-quarter touchdowns. Groh hooked up with tight end Luke Bresnahan for a 25-yard touchdown in the third quarter that finished the scoring and produced a running clock for most of the second half.

“Our O-line did the job we prepared for all week,” R-B tackle Jake Quentrall-Quezada said. “We were focusing on minimizing the mental errors this week, no stupid penalties, just playing clean the whole game. It’s fun to just go out there and block.”

Groh finished 5-of-5 passing for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Linebacker Luke Rendtorff had a sack and a forced fumble and recovery in the first half for the game’s lone turnover.

Marengo moved the ball early and had eight first downs in the first half, but could not reach the end zone.

“Our first drive was 12 plays, we got three first downs,” Indians coach Paul Forsythe said. “We changed the tempo, went fast, went slow. We just couldn’t hold on.

“All the Football 101, they block and they get off blocks and they tackle. Their linebackers fly around and offensively if you’re not moving people around in the run game, it’s going to be tough.”

Richmond-Burton 42, Marengo 0

Richmond-Burton 14 21 7 0 – 42

Marengo 0 0 0 0 – 0

First quarter

RB–Martens 53 run (Lehn kick), 4:51.

RB–Loveall 36 pass from Groh (Lehn kick), 1:02.

Second quarter

RB–Nellessen 1 run (Lehn kick), 10:01.

RB–Nellessen 12 run (Lehn kick), 6:07.

RB–Nellessen 2 run (Lehn kick), 1:56.

Third quarter

RB–Bresnahan 25 pass from Groh (Lehn kick), 9:11.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Richmond-Burton: Nellessen 17-134, Martens 2-63, Saranzak 6-35, Hile 2-14, Jones 1-5, Busa 2-5, Johnson 1-1. Totals: 31-257. Marengo: Anthony 17-45, Sacco 4-12, Smith 3-minus 1, Johnson 1-minus 1, Lopez 8-minu 2, Team 1-minus 3. Totals: 34-50.

PASSING–Richmond-Burton: Groh 5-5-0-112. Marengo: Lopez 13-22-0-90.

RECEIVING–Richmond-Burton: Loveall 4-81, Bresnahan 1-25. Marengo: Lampe 7-36, Anthony 1-17, Grismer 1-13, Johnson 1-12, Kentgen 1-6, Mandelky 1-6, Aubry 1-2.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Richmond-Burton 369, Marengo 140.