Dawgs Roll Past Maur Hill

From the Capital Journal:

The Bulldawgs steamrolled Maur Hill 49-0 on Tuesday at Rossville, earning their 24th straight victory, the bi-district trophy and a date with Nemaha Central on Saturday.

Rossville completely throttled the Falcons’ offense, allowing just 79 total yards from scrimmage on 41 plays. Scoring almost at will, the Bulldogs forced a running clock early in the third period.

“Defensively, last week we saw some things that we needed to work on, and tonight we made some improvement,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said. “At this time of the year everybody’s going to be good, so we need to keep improving every time out.”

Quarterback Tucker Horak led the Bulldogs into the playoffs with a historic 384-yard, seven-touchdown rushing game against Silver Lake last Thursday. His play against Maur Hill was nearly perfect as well.

Horak completed 12 of 14 throws for 275 yards and four touchdowns while also running for 112 yards and two scores on just nine carries.

“He is obviously a real good player for us, but he’s got good help around him,” Hammes said. “He’s got an offensive line that figured things out tonight with a lot of guys hovering around the line of scrimmage. And he’s got skill players who made plays as well who take the burden off of him. We know that he’s a special player, but we feel like we’re more than a one-man show.”

Several of Horak’s throws were into the flat where wide-open receivers broke tackles en route to long gains.

“They put a lot of guys in the box and forced us to throw the football, and once we were able to figure that out we were able to get the ball to some guys to make plays,” Hammes said.

Rossville running back Dawson Hammes helped bulldoze Maur Hill, scoring three touchdowns and rushing 12 times for 85 yards.

“We knew they were a good team. We could see it on film,” Horak said. “To come out and get this win was just a great feeling. We had a lot of different guys getting some carries and making some nice catches.”

Rossville spread the ball to eleven different skill players and rolled up 517 yards on 55 plays from scrimmage. By scoring on a 74-yard pass from Horak to Cole Schumacher on their first play of the third period, Rossville set the running clock in motion. Still, the Bulldogs used numerous reserves in the second half, saving their strength for Saturday’s game at Nemaha Central.

“It was still a physical game, but to get that type of rest probably helps a little bit,” Hammes said. “But the turnaround is so fast. We have got to get back out on the practice field and get the game plan for Saturday in tomorrow. At this point in the year, you just kind of work on adrenaline right now.”

Maur Hill (6-3) 0 0 0 0 — 0

Rossville (10-0) 21 21 7 0 — 49

RV — Horak 67 run (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 5 run (kick failed)

RV — Horak 16 run (Balch pass from Horak)

RV — Balch 30 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 13 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Hammes 5 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

RV — Schumaher 74 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)

GAME IN FIGURES

MH RV

First downs 4 20

Rushes-yards 23-27 39-246

Passing yards 66 275

Passes 4-16-1 12-15-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Punts-Avg. 5-33.0 none

Penalties-yards 6-40 6-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Maur Hill: Trotter 19-29, Olberding 3-(minus 4), Schrick 1-2; Rossville: Horak 9-112, Hammes 12-85, Balch 2-6, Hulbert 3-33, Gfeller 4-10, Bradshaw 1-(minus 1) Cavanaugh 5-3, Dyche 2-0, Foster 1-(minus 2).

PASSING — Maur Hill: Olberding 4-14-1 66 yards, Schrick 0-1-0 0 yards, Trotter 0-1-0 0 yards; Rossville: Horak 12-14-0 275 yards, Hulbert 0-1-0 0 yards.

RECEIVING — Maur Hill: Schrick 2-41, Ervin 1-9, Rocha 1-16; Rossville: Roduner 4-82, Hammes 3-33, Schumacher 3-95, Bradshaw 1-35, Balch 1-30.

PUNTING — Maur Hill: Rocha 5-33.0; Rossville: none.