Richmond-Burton hangs on against Wauconda
Friday night's season-opening football game between host Wauconda and Richmond-Burton was all about the thrill of victory - and the agony of defeat.
The back and forth battle went down to the wire, but when all was said and done the visiting Rockets came through with a huge goal-line stand to secure an exciting 28-21 nonconference victory over Wauconda in a well-played game by both squads.
Twenty-one unanswered points in the first half by Wauconda (0-1) gave the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead over Richmond-Burton (1-0) at halftime.
But the Rockets' time-consuming, ball-control offense really took the wind out of the Wauconda defense's sails as a 9-yard touchdown run by Richmond-Burton senior Joe Dittmar (115 yards on 21 carries) deadlocked the score at 21-21 with 3:38 left in the third quarter.
Then a 14-play, 73-yard drive by the Rockets gave the visitors a 28-21 advantage with 4:09 to play as Carter Miller's 6-yard TD run up the middle proved to be the game-winner.
The Bulldogs never folded down the stretch as they took over at their own 45 in hopes of mounting a game-tying drive.
It all came down to a fourth-and-goal play from the Richmond-Burton 4, but the Rockets were able to stop Wauconda quarterback Kevin Malisheski at the 2 to secure an exciting 28-21 victory to set off a wild celebration by the visitors.
"It's a good win, and the way the kids responded in the second half was the difference in the football game," said Richmond-Burton coach Patrick Elder, whose team rushed for 258 yards overall. "We knew having the ball was going to be important, and we moved the ball well on the ground. Joe (Dittmar) is a big, strong young man, he ran the ball hard, and he was able to fall forward."
The Rockets jumped out to the lead just 54 seconds into the contest as senior Joe Wolfram (79 yards on 10 rushes) went 42-yards off right tackle for the TD before the first of four extra points by Ryan Kilcoyne made the score 7-0.
Wauconda's defense was unable to solve Richmond-Burton's ground attack on its second possession either as Wolfram's 1-yard plunge was followed by a 35-yard extra point by Kilcoyne to boost the lead to 14-0 with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs' offense responded well after that as senior quarterback Kevin Malisheski scored on a 1-yard run before the first of three extra points by Andry Nevski cut the lead to 14-7 with 1:35 left in the first quarter.
Wauconda kept the pressure on the Rockets as Malisheski (64 yards on 7 carries) deadlocked the score at 14-14 with 2:54 left in the first half as Malisheski broke three tackles and went 47-yards en route to the end zone.
Two-way player Tyler Stankiewicz (105 yards on 15 attempts) gave the Bulldogs a 21-14 lead with 44 seconds left in the second quarter on a 6-yard TD run . Stankiewicz had 99 of his 105 yards rushing in the first half before teammate Jacob Bicknase was a huge difference-maker with all of his 64 yards rushing (on 10 carries) in the second half.
But the second half was not kind to Wauconda's offense as it was never able to find the end zone despite some golden opportunities.
"They're a great team, Pat (Elder) does a great job up there, and they've been to the playoffs eight years in a row," said Wauconda coach Dave Mills, whose team had 249 total yards rushing. "We had a run-pass option in there (on the final play), and we came up three feet short."
Malisheski also threw for 77 yards on 7-for-13 passing, but the Bulldogs fell just short of forcing overtime in the final minute.
"We got off to a really slow start and we picked each other up with 21 unanswered points," Malisheski said. "It (final play) was designed for a fake run and hit (Parker Fink) with a little pass, but they had it played perfectly."