Richmond-Burton routs Chicago Sullivan for 30th consecutive victory

RICHMOND — Anything can happen in postseason football.

But at Richmond-Burton, it was business as usual for the host Rockets, as the offense clicked and the defense pitched their fourth shutout of the season with a 56-0 win over Sullivan in their Class 4A first-round playoff game on Friday.

On the first play from scrimmage, R-B’s Steven Siegel took the handoff, followed his blocks and raced 80 yards for the touchdown, putting the Rockets up 6-0 only 14 seconds into the game. That was the first of six first-half touchdowns.

“That really brought us a lot of momentum, brought us a lot of hype and got us going in the right direction, which felt really good,” said Siegel, who had 88 yards on only two carries.

After recovering the ensuing kickoff, Rockets running back Brock Wood scored from 6 yards out, putting R-B up, 12-0, before Sullivan, from the Chicago Public Illini-Windy City Conference, ran an offensive play.

On their third possession, running back Landon Jacoby scored on a 28-yard run and then the passing game took over.

Quarterback Joe Miller was 4-of-4 passing in the second quarter with two of those completions going for touchdowns. Miller connected with Zach Smith for a 5-yard touchdown and Caleb Uhwat for a 17-yard score. Running back Nicolas Falasca scored the final touchdown of the first half with an 18-yard run.

The Rockets (10-0) ended the game with 358 rushing yards. Wood had 100 rushing yards on nine carries, and five other running backs had 25 or more yards on the ground.

Equally up to the task, the R-B defense was dominant.

Sullivan (5-5) finished the game with minus-10 total yards on offense, and the Rockets did not allow a single Sullivan first down. Brogan McKeown and Alex Reyna each recorded a sack and Toby Quentrall- Quezada recovered a fumble.

“It all starts with our coaching, we worked really hard all week on stopping the run and we stayed with our assignments all night,” said Quentrall-Quezada, who also registered a tackle for loss and then scored a rushing touchdown in the second half.

Entering the game, Sullivan’s strength was running the ball, but R-B’s defense kept that in check.

“They came out in some different formations, but we were able to adapt to each formation and every single player did their job,” said Wood, who had a tackle for a loss at linebacker. “When that happens, we are tough to run against,”

With the win, the Rockets now have won 30 consecutive games, but more importantly advances them to the second round of the playoffs.

“We worked long and hard over the summer and after not having playoffs last spring, we are really focused on one week at a time, we are excited for [the second round],” said Wood.

While the results were impressive against Sullivan, the Rockets know there is more work to be done.

“We feel that we can take another jump,” said Rockets coach Mike Noll. “We have some things to clean up, but we feel really good after tonight’s game.”