Richmond-Burton’s Steven Siegel scores seven TDs in KRC/I8 Blue win over Marengo

RICHMOND – Marengo was able to match Richmond-Burton in a thoroughly entertaining first half.

Indians quarterback Josh Holst was flinging it all over, hitting on 19 of 23 passes and posing all kinds of problems.

Meanwhile, R-B did what it does best and ran the ball with fullback Steven Siegel, who had 121 yards and two touchdowns on his first three carries.

But in the second half, the Rockets showed why they are ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press Class 4A poll and have won 35 of their last 36 games.

Siegel, it turned out, was just getting warmed up with three first-half touchdowns. He ran for four more scores in the second half as R-B defeated Marengo 48-21 in their Kishwaukee River Conference/Interstate 8 Blue Division opener Friday night.

“It starts with the O-line throwing up some good blocks,” said Siegel, who finished with 23 carries for 355 yards and seven touchdowns. “The holes were there. We just kept going. Our offense, we kept running it, and it kept working. We had to get one stop.”

R-B (3-0, 1-0 KRC/I8 Blue) shut down Marengo (1-2, 0-1) in the second half, limiting it to 37 yards. The Indians put up 240 yards in the first half.

“We came out rolling and knew what we were doing,” said Holst, who finished connecting on 21 of 29 passes for 184 yards. “We knew who we were going against, these guys are always good. I feel like we played them our best in the first half.”

Holst completed his first 11 passes, hitting wide receiver Logan Miller for a 24-yard score on the first series, then hooking up with wide receiver Greg Baker for a 47-yard touchdown on the next series.

“He’s just very good at executing their offense,” R-B coach Mike Noll said. “We blew a couple reads, but their execution was really high-level too. He was getting the ball out so quick we couldn’t get pressure on him. When you do get pressure, he scrambles and makes some plays. It’s tough.

“They converted a lot of third downs in the first half. That we have to take a look at.”

There was one play Holst wished he could take back. Marengo was up, 21-14, and the defense recovered a fumble, giving the Indians a chance at a two-score lead.

“I made a stupid decision, threw it across the middle on second down, and I should have thrown it away and we could have kept going and went up two touchdowns and [it would have] been a different ballgame,” Holst said.

R-B defensive back Zach Smith picked off the pass that got tipped to stop that drive.

Although the Rockets’ defense struggled in the first half, the ground game was as solid as ever.

“Our offense brought our team up a lot today. It was a lot of help,” Rockets linebacker Daniel Kanilowski said. “After the first half, we pretty much played our best. We should have come out [early] like we played in the second half.”

Marengo coach Paul Forsythe said his team was thin on the offensive line because of injuries. Guard Hunter Smith was one of the players injured in the first half.

“We still have to execute,” Forsythe said. “I’m not discrediting their team, they have a really nice team. We lost a guy here and there and ran out of steam a little bit.

“Josh, in the first half, he was just dangerous. We had them on their heels a little bit. If we could have done that for four quarters, it might have been a little different. We’ll get better.”

Siegel, a 6-foot, 210-pound senior, finished with all but 109 of R-B’s 464 total yards. He carried for 14 yards on his first attempt, then scored on runs of 45 and 62 yards on his next two runs.

“If you don’t stop our belly, there’s no reason to stop running it,” Noll said. “Our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, and Steven ran wild.”

Richmond-Burton 48, Marengo 21

Marengo 21 0 0 0 – 21

Richmond-Burton 14 7 7 20 – 48

First quarter

M–Miller 24 pass from Holst (Bergbreiter kick), 8:04.

RB–Siegel 45 run (Lehn kick), 7:01.

M–Baker 47 pass from Holst (Bergbreiter kick), 5:30.

RB–Siegel 62 run (Lehn kick), 5:15.

M–Leibrandt 4 run (Bergbreiter kick), 0:49.

Second quarter

RB–Siegel 8 run (Lehn kick), 5:31.

Third quarter

RB–Siegel 12 run (Lehn kick), 7:38.

Fourth quarter

RB–Siegel 18 run (Lehn kick), 11:14.

RB–Siegel 53 run (kick failed), 9:54.

RB–Siegel 8 run (Lehn kick), 4:17.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Marengo: Leibrandt 14-45, Holst 9-34, Anthony 5-15, Boley 2-4, Miller 2-minus 2. Totals: 30-96. Richmond-Burton: Siegel 23-355, Quentrall-Quezada 8-46, Falasca 3-32, Nellessen 2-18, Saranzak 3-16, Team 1-minus 1, Miller 1-minus 3. Totals: 41-453.

PASSING-Marengo: Holst 21-29-2-184. Richmond-Burton: Miller 1-2-0-11.

RECEIVING–Marengo: Miller 6-47, D. Lopez 5-38, Frederick 4-38, Leibrandt 3-3, Baker 2-51, Anthony 1-4. RIchmond-Burton: Loveall 1-11.

TOTAL TEAM YARDS–Marengo 280, Richmond-Burton 464.