Turnovers key to Aberdeen Roncalli win over St. Thomas More
In a game where it seemed one play could change the fortune of either team, Aberdeen Roncalli was gifted that play when St. Thomas More mishandled a punt that ultimately led to a 21-6 Roncalli win on Saturday at Dacotah Bank Stadium.
Fifth-rated Class 11B Roncalli improves to 6-0 and More drops to 4-2 on the year.
“It became obvious early on we were going to have to grind it out,” said Roncalli head coach Billy Young. “(More) dropped that punt, we recovered and were able to capitalize on it. We won the field position game, we were able to pick up first downs and keep the clock running and when you do that you’re going to win most of your games.”
One blemish in another stout Roncalli defensive performance
The first score of the game went to the visiting Cavaliers of More, when freshman quarterback John Paul Sullivan rolled right and hit a wide open Tyson Durham who took it the distance for a 73-yard touchdown and a 6-nothing More lead. Outside of that, Roncalli, which entered the game allowing 3.8 points per-game, came up with another solid effort, holding More to 19 yards rushing and that one score.
“(Touchdown) was just a miscommunication between two defensive backs not on the same page,” Young said. “We haven’t allowed double-digit points since our last regular season game last year. This year, we’ve either shut teams our just allowed one score. We can stay in our (defensive) system, and not necessarily press offensively. We can stay down, six, seven-nothing for two quarters because our defense keeps us in games, and (defense) has been outstanding so far this year.”
Turnover battle key for Roncalli, forcing three en route to the win.
Roncalli’s first score came via a More turnover. Roncalli’s Jackson Isakson punted to More’s Durham, who dropped the ball. Zane Backous recovered and two plays later, was on the receiving end of an Isakson eight-yard touchdown pass. A bad snap on the extra point attempt led to an Abe Kretchman 2-point conversion and an 8-6 Roncalli lead.
“Jackson’s a warrior,” Young said. “He’s one of our guys that we can lean on when we need to get yardage, or like you see in our kicking game. (More’s) game plan was to shut Maddox (May) and Abe (Kretchman) down and if you do that, you need to account for No. 15 and (Iskason) stepped up (Saturday) for us.”
Isakson generated Roncalli’s second score of the half. First, he jumped in front of More’s Easton Ogle and intercepted Sullivan’s pass, taking the ball inside More’s four-yard line. Isakson punched it into the end zone one play later, making it a 14-6 lead at the half. Isakson led Roncalli in rushing with 90 yards. Abe Kretchman added a second interception for Roncalli.
“I saw (Ogle) come around the outside for the deep ball,” Isakson said, “And I saw (Sullivan) throw it and I was like ‘Yeah, this one’s mine’ because the ball held up in the air so I went up and got it. We lean on the five guys up front, making big holes for us to run through. Being able to run behind them is really fun, for sure.”
The third quarter began with a three-and out forced by the Roncalli defense. Four plays and 31-yards later, Isakson hit Keegan Stewart for a four-yard score and a 21-6 lead. Young crediting his senior-laden squad for maintaining its confidence no matter the time or circumstance of the game.
“Our guys just don’t get rattled,” Young said. “We’ve had some really talented teams, but we’d get in a big moment and something bad would happen and it’d seem like it just zapped our energy. This team is just very resilient. Even after we went down 6-0 to (More), it was the first time all season we trailed in a game and it seemed like no big deal on our sideline. Our guys just believe that we’ll make a play, and we did, recovering the fumbled punt. We punched it into the end zone, and we were off and running.”
Roncalli travels to Webster Area on Friday, Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
St. Thomas More (4-2) 0 6 0 0 — 6Aberdeen Roncalli (6-0) 0 14 7 0 — 21
Second Quarter
STM — Tyson Durham 72-yard pass from John Paul Sullivan (PAT failed).
AR — Zane Backous 8-yard pass from Jackson Isakson (Kretchman run).
AR — Isakson 1-yard run (PAT failed).
Third Quarter
AR — Keegan Stewart 4-yard pass from Isakson (Isakson kick).
OFFENSE: STM rushing 14-19 (Matthew Larson 7-26), passing 14-27-2 for 152 (Sullivan 14-27 for 152), receiving (Durham 2-76). AR rushing 32-145 (Isakson 11-09), passing 11-19-1 for 86 (Isakson 11-19-1 for 86), receiving (Stewart 3-36).
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Aberdeen Roncalli stays unbeaten with 21-6 win over St. Thomas More.
