From the Capital Journal
By Brent Maycock.
At some point, there are no longer words.
At least that was the position Rossville coach Derick Hammes found himself in when asked to describe the display his senior quarterback, All-Stater Tucker Horak, put on in Thursday night’s War on 24 showdown with rival Silver Lake.
He was speechless, and likely so was anyone else who witnessed a performance for the ages in a series that has seen more than its share of incredible performances. If anything, all one could muster was simply a ‘Wow.’
In an offensive shootout, Horak was a howitzer. The Bulldawg senior busted three touchdown runs of 70-plus yards in the second half alone and finished with an astonishing 384 yards and seven rushing touchdowns as Rossville posted its third straight win over the Eagles with a 56-35 win.
The defending 3A champion Bulldawgs (9-0) capped a second straight undefeated regular season and captured their third straight Mid-East League title while handing No. 4 Silver Lake its first loss (8-1).
“What do I say?” Hammes said. “He’s a humble kid and a team-first guy. For his first eight football games, he hasn’t had much opportunity to shine because we’ve had such lop-sided scores. He got to play a full one tonight and show what he can do.”
Mind you, Horak had rushed for 1,405 yards and thrown for 1,250 yards entering Thursday’s game, including a huge 353-yard rushing game against Rock Creek. But Thursday’s performance was different, coming against a team that had done reasonably well in bottling Horak up a year ago in two meetings, holding him to 277 yards rushing and just three touchdowns in two games.
And in the first half of Thursday’s game, the Eagles were effective in keeping Horak from busting big plays with his feet. He did run for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the half, but the scoring runs were from 8 and 3 yards.
But with Rossville clinging to a tight 21-17 halftime lead, Horak took over the second half and one big play was all it took to get him going.
On Rossville’s first possession of the second half, Horak appeared to get stopped at the line of scrimmage on a third and 2 at their own 23. Instead, he shook off the initial hits, popped to the outside and outraced the Eagle defense for a 77-yard score.
“We knew they are sound and swarm hard to the ball,” Horak said. “I just made something happen and that was really all there was to it.”
It was only the beginning of Horak’s monster half. After Silver Lake answered his touchdown with a 60-yard scoring pass from Dalton Dultmeier to Keenan Baird, Rossville needed just four plays to go 75 yards with Horak scoring from 7 yards out.
When Silver Lake answered again with a touchdown run from Hunter Howerton, Horak responded with a 75-yard touchdown burst on the Bulldawgs’ next offensive play. He later added fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 76 and 43 yards to put the Eagles away and cap a half where he ran for 292 yards and five touchdowns.
“He’s not an All-State player for no reason,” Silver Lake coach C.J. Hamilton said. “You look back and thin about some missed tackles, but that’s easier said than done against him. He has a lot to do with that.”
Perhaps Horak’s biggest drive of the game, however, came just before halftime. Silver Lake spent the first half not only trading blows with Rossville, but getting in an extra punch or two and took a 17-14 lead with 2:49 left in the half on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Dultmeier to Baird.
But Horak led the Bulldawgs on a to-the-script, two-minute march, completing one pass after another to Christian Roduner on the sidelines before finding Jacob Bradshaw for a 12-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds left in the half that gave Rossville the 21-17 lead at the break.
“That kind of talks about what kind of rounded player he is,” Hammes said. “He handled that well and there was no panic at all. For us to move down the field and seize a little momentum before half was just big.”
Dultmeier had a huge night as well, throwing for 299 yards and four touchdowns. Baird hauled in three of the scores and finished with 121 yards receiving. Horak also threw for 134 yards.
Rossville also clinched the Class 3A District 4 title and will play host to Maur Hill in next Tuesday’s playoff opener. Silver Lake will travel to Pleasant Ridge for the first round of the playoffs.
Rossville (9-0) 7 14 22 13 — 56
Silver Lake (8-1) 10 7 12 6 — 35
Ross — Horak 8 run (Nascimento kick)
SL — Howerton 18 pass from Dultmeier (Martin kick)
SL — Martin 26 field goal
Ross — Horak 3 run (Nascimento kick)
SL — K. Baird 31 pass from Dultmeier (Martin kick)
Ross — Bradshaw 12 pass from Horak (Nascimento kick)
Ross — Horak 77 run (Nascimento kick)
SL — K. Baird 60 pass from Dultmeier (kick failed)
Ross — Horak 7 run (Nascimento kick)
SL — Howerton 4 run (kick failed)
Ross — Horak 75 run (Roduner pass from Horak)
Ross — Horak 76 run (Nascimento kick)
Ross — Horak 43 run (kick failed)
SL — K. Baird 22 pass from Dultmeier (run failed)
GAME IN FIGURES
Ross SL
First downs 25 22
Rushes-yards 41-484 30-109
Passing 134 299
Comp-Att-Int14-21-0 18-33-0
Punts 2-32.5 3-23.3
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yds 6-72 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Rossville: Horak 27-384, Hammes 12-100, Balch 1-0, Roduner 1-0. Silver Lake: Dultmeier 11-39, Howerton 15-61, C. Baird 3-11, K. Baird 1-minus 2.
PASSING — Rossville: Horak 14-21-0, 134 yards. Silver Lake: Dultmeier 18-33-0, 299 yards.
RECEIVING — Rossville: Roduner 7-53, Hammes 3-41, Schumacher 2-13, Bradshaw 2-28. Silver Lake: Wagner 3-32, K. Baird 4-121, Howerton 1-18, Wolfley 6-84, C. Baird 2-31, Honas 2-13.
