ROCHESTER — While the Rochester rushing attack was averaging 465 rushing yards per game heading into Friday, it was the W.F. West ground game and defense that stole the show in the 2A EvCo matchup between the two teams. The Bearcats ran for nearly 250 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 28-6 victory.
Quarterback Gage Brumfield tallied 138 yards on the ground, doing much of his damage on designed run plays.
“He’s such a great runner,” W.F. West coach Dan Hill said. “It makes it really hard on defenses and I’m really glad he’s on our team.”
Declan McDonald also had plenty of success on the ground for the Bearcats (3-3, 3-1 2A EvCo), rushing for 94 yards on 13 carries, while also adding the finishing touches on the win with a 32-yard scamper in the final minutes.
On the other side of the ball, for the first time this season, the Rochester (4-2, 3-1 2A EvCo) ground game was getting stuffed.
While they had responded with W.F. West’s touchdown drive late in the first quarter with a 17-play, 55-yard drive of their own, the Warriors had just one first down on each of their following two possessions. The Bearcats were consistently plugging running lanes and winning at the line of scrimmage.
“We got into the front we thought we needed to get into,” Hill said. “It looked right all week long. Our guys believed in it. It’s all about eye discipline with these guys, and our guys did it all night long and fitted holes and stuffed them pretty good.”
Down 14-6 in the third quarter, the Warriors needed a big play to kickstart their offense.
After forcing a turnover in the red zone, they appeared to get the spark they needed. Ethan Rodriguez shimmied out of a tackle and broke free for a 66-yard touchdown, one that would have given the Warriors a chance to tie the game on the ensuing two-point conversion.
Instead, the ball was brought back to the Warrior 35-yard line, as the line judge on the far side had inadvertently blown his whistle to kill the play early.
Three plays later, the Warriors turned the ball over on downs, and four plays after that, Brumfield took it into the endzone for the third time to make it 21-6. The Warriors never got another first down, while the Bearcats scored on their final two drives to put the game out of reach.
In total, the Warriors ran for just 133 yards, a far cry from their average coming into the game (which is still at 408).
“We have rules, and if you stay in those rules you should be fine,” Rochester coach A.J. Easley said. “They showed us some things that kind of threw us for a loop a little bit, so we got out of our rules. And when we get out of our rules, then bad things happen.”
While disappointed with the result, Easley said this game can be used as a measuring stick for the Warriors, who are trying to break into the upper echelon of the EvCo.
“Unlike years past, I feel like we did a decent job of countering the physicality,” Easley said. “I thought we were pretty physical, we just weren’t consistently physical.”
While the Bearcat offense struggled in the first half, Hill was pleased with the way they responded in the second half. On the opening drive of the second half, Brumfield ran the ball on all five plays, rushing for 56 yards and a score.
“We challenged the kids at halftime to be better, to play Bearcat football, and execute the way we wanted to,” Hill said. “And they came out and they did that. So I’m real proud of the boys for responding that way and finishing the way the right way.”
