There was plenty to celebrate in Richmond-Burton’s 42-13 win over Marengo on Friday night. The host Rockets locked up the Kishwaukee River Conference championship, head coach Mike Noll won his 300th career game, and Rockets running back Hunter Carley had a career night scoring six touchdowns.

The Rockets (8-0, 6-0) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half behind Carley’s first three touchdowns of the game. The junior running back scored on runs of one, 11, and 66 yards to build up the lead.

On the first play of the second half, Carley scored on a 71-yard run and then added touchdown runs of 40 and 22 yards, capping an unforgettable night.

“You dream about having a night like this in a big game, but it truly was a combination of the offensive line creating the holes and feeling the healthiest I felt all year, everything just went right,” said Carley, who finished the game with 280 yards on 16 carries.

The Rockets’ defense made things challenging for the Indians. Senior Trevor Szumanski had one of two sacks for the Rockets, while also having two tackles-for-loss.

“Everyone on defense contributed, the defensive line stopped their run game, and our defense has been sound all year, and we were again tonight,” Szumanski said.

With the win, the Rockets wrapped up the conference title, achieving one of their preseason goals.

“It’s a great feeling, we worked really hard for this, but we can’t get caught up in it too much, we have to keep working hard to prepare for the playoffs,” Carley said.

The night was extra special for Noll. With the win, he is now tied as the seventh-winningest coach in Illinois High School football history. Noll won 142 games at McHenry, 82 at Glenbrook South. Win No. 76 at R-B puts him at 300 victories.

“I am blessed, I’ve been lucky to coach with a lot of great coaches and coach a lot of really talented players, and my family loves football, so I’ve been very lucky,” Noll said. “I really wanted to make sure the kids have a good experience tonight because there was a lot on the line playing for a conference championship, but getting to 300 wins is a nice milestone.”

“We are proud of him and happy for him and we appreciate he sticks with us through thick and thin and it’s a great achievement,” Szumanski said.

Marengo’s (6-2, 4-2) offense started to click in the second half. Quarterback Sam Vandello threw two touchdown passes, a 34-yard connection with Hunter Muench and 46-yard score with Parker Mandelky. Vandello was 14-of-19 passing for 154 yards. With a playoff spot already assured, Marengo will continue to look forward.

“We are going to have a good week of practice and try to end the regular season on a high note, especially for our seniors and we’ll see what happens in the playoffs,” Marengo coach Paul Forsythe said.