Rochester football overwhelms Springfield High in battle of Big Ten-bound QBs

ROCHESTER — In a football game that pitted Big Ten Conference-bound quarterbacks, it was Illinois-bound Hank Beatty’s Rochester team that came out ahead of Rutgers-bound Rashad Rochelle’s Springfield High team on Friday.   

The Class 5A No. 1-ranked Rockets (4-1) got great field position early and jumped out to a three-touchdown lead in the first quarter. Rochester never looked back in a 63-20 win over Springfield in a Central State Eight Conference game at Rocket Booster Stadium on Friday.  

“The defense came out storming (SHS) and we’ve been on them about our starts defensively,” Rochester coach Derek Leonard said. “Give (Rochester defensive coordinator Steve Buecker) credit and the defensive staff and the defense. They came out and set the tone.”

Scoreboard:Week 5 scores from around the Springfield area

Beatty ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and threw for 133 yards on 10 of 16 passing. He passed for three touchdowns.  

It was the second straight running-clock loss for the Senators (3-2), following last week’s 52-7 loss at Sacred Heart-Griffin. Rochelle had 14 runs for 73 yards with a touchdown. He was 8-for-20 passing with 106 yards, one TD and two interceptions. 

“Playing those two programs with their tradition and history and coaching staffs back-to-back is definitely a tall task,” SHS coach Roy Gully III said. “I would’ve expected us, three weeks ago, to play a lot better than we have the last two weeks. Quite frankly, we haven’t stopped anybody the last two weeks and we haven’t put up any points the last two weeks. Playing back-to-back games like that will have you questioning your sanity but we’ve got four weeks left. 

“We can either overcome it and get better and finish strong or we can let it linger and derail the season.” 

Springfield trailed 43-14 at halftime but Rochester fumbled on the Rockets’ first two possessions in the second half. When the Senators were unable to pick up even one first down off either turnover, Rochester’s third try was the charm as Beatty capped off a seven-play, 53-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown for a 50-14 lead. 

Quick commanding lead 

Rochester got the opening kickoff at its own 40 and needed just eight plays to move the ball 60 yards. Senior Austin Adcock put the Rockets on top with a 2-yard TD run. Zoe Cormier hit the first of her seven successful extra-point tries for a 7-0 lead just 2 minutes, 26 seconds into the game.  

Background:Rochester star and Illini football commit has strong family roots at Illinois

The Senators punted on fourth-and-11 from their own 19. That punt went just 11 yards and gave the Rockets the ball at the SHS 30. Rochester needed one play as Beatty found Parker Gillespie for a 30-yard touchdown.

“That was the first thing (Leonard) said, ‘We got to get on top and make sure we come out with the lead,” senior Seth Parkinson said. “We don’t want to give Rashad any momentum. So that was the stressor for us in the locker room before the game.” 

Springfield’s second drive also started at its own 20. SHS faced fourth-and-3 from the 27, and this time the Senators went for it. Rochelle’s pass was incomplete. Rochester then went the 27-yard distance in three plays and Adcock punched in his second TD from the 1.  

“(Springfield) went for it on multiple fourth downs — even early in the game — and (Rochester’s defense) stopped them and gave us great field position,” Beatty said. 

It was Rochester 21, Springfield High 0 — barely midway through the first quarter.  

“Football is a game of momentum, and we have to take advantage of that, especially against an explosive team like them,” Parkinson said. “They’re more athletic than us across the board; we just have to capitalize on mistakes.” 

Desperate Senators find success 

If Springfield High needed an eye-opener, perhaps that was it. On the Senators’ third possession, they looked much closer to the team that started out 3-0 and was ranked No. 6 in the AP’s 6A poll.  

The Rockets brought up fourth-and-7 from the SHS 23 when Keeton Reiss and Johnny Neal combined to sack Rochelle for a 6-yard loss. And Rochester nearly brought Rochelle down again on fourth down, but he found daylight and picked up a 47-yard gain to get the Senators into Rochester territory for the first time.  

Immediately, SHS had its second first down when Rochelle found Jeffrey Elms for a 13-yard pass play. Three plays later, Rochelle found the end zone on a 13-yard gain. Finally, the Senators were on the board.  

Background:How Springfield High's improbable IHSA state baseball title fuels its football team

After Beatty helped Rochester reclaim a three-score lead with a 26-yard touchdown run, Rochelle kept pace and completed four passes in a row, capped by a 23-yard TD strike to Pharell Jackson.  

“We don’t accept quit and if we see guys not giving it their all, we pull them,” Gully said. “It’s never a matter of quit. A lot of it is execution and football smarts and we just haven’t been playing very smart football all the way around.” 

Rochester slows down Rochelle

Now with the offense rolling, the Senators’ defense needed a stop. It never came. 

Beatty hit Ethan Vose for a 33-yard touchdown and the Rockets’ defense stopped the Senators’ offense when Ian Lichtenberger sacked Rochelle on third down to force another punt. Rochester stormed down the field in three plays for a 43-14 lead with 3:28 left in the half. 

On first-and-10 from the Rochester 15, Rochelle was picked off by Jack Teeter and Rochester took its 29-point lead into halftime.

Power ranks:Here are the Central State Eight Conference rankings for Week 5

Rochelle was stopped for a loss five times.

“He’s dangerous once he gets out of that pocket,” Beatty said of his D-I counterpart. “That was a big part of our game plan was keeping Rashad in the pocket, keeping our (defensive ends) from not letting him get outside of him because when he gets the outside, you know he’s got the wheels and he can make big plays and give them momentum.  

“That’s exactly what we wanted to stop from happening, and I thought our defense did a great job of doing that tonight.” 

Contact Ryan Mahan: 857-246-9756, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.