Jacob Petersen, Richmond-Burton defense stifle Woodstock North

WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton felt more like itself Friday night, and that meant bad news for Woodstock North.

Led by a big 28-point second quarter, the Rockets cruised to a 49-0 victory over the Thunder in Kishwaukee River Conference play.

Coach Mike Noll said it was a bit different than the previous Friday, a modest 22-point win over Woodstock in which his squad might be a feeling a bit of the pressure of being a defending state champion.

“We always talk about the burden of expectations,” Noll said. “I always tell the kids you just have to play the game and have fun. You can’t worry about all that other stuff. And we practiced well this week. I am pleased with the progress we made this week.”

Richmond-Burton appeared to have plenty of fun, especially at the outset of the second quarter when it took away the intrigue rather quickly with three big blows in a matter of just three little minutes.

Up 7-0 after a quarter, Jacob Huber (5-of-6 for 74 yards) connected with Dylan Minzey on a 31-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the period. Just two plays later, Nick Legnaioli picked off a Jay Zinnen pass, setting up Huber’s second touchdown pass, this one of nine yards to Jacob Petersen.

Petersen then delivered defensively with a huge sack that immediately followed a costly Woodstock North (2-2, 2-2) penalty, forcing the Thunder to punt from their own end zone and giving R-B another short field. That ended with an 11-yard scoring run from Rey Guajardo to essentially put the game away at 28-0 with 7:50 left to play in the half.

Legnaioli, who wound up with 77 yards rushing, added his second touchdown of the game late in the period with a 31-yard run to make it 35-0 at halftime. While the offense clicked, Richmond-Burton’s defense held the Thunder winged offense to just 130 yards of total offense.

“Everyone has to tackle their phase,” said Petersen, who had three tackles for loss in that first half. “If the fullback comes in, the first guy there has to tackle the fullback and not try to do anything special. You can’t try to guess who has the ball, because the moment you start guessing you don’t know where the ball is at and they are running down the field for 30 yards. Just do your job.”

Brock Wood, who had 61 yards on seven carries, added an 18-yard touchdown run in the second half before Royce Heaney scored from five yards out.

Woodstock North ran just four plays in Richmond-Burton territory for the game while Cole Brey was limited to 30 yards on senior night. Still, coach Jeff Schroeder lauded the efforts of his seniors on their night for what they have done throughout a challenging season.

“They have come out, and I have not seen anyone feel sorry for themselves for a shortened season or that it has been a weird season in the spring,” he said. “They were just excited to play. I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and that really motivates me to give our best effort as coaches. They’re a fantastic group.”