Burlington Central now playoff eligible
Richmond-Burton found out the hard way that it's not how you start, but rather how you finish at Burlington Central Friday night.
The visiting Rockets scored first against the host Rockets but Burlington Central, depleted by injuries and suspensions to several starters including top running back Jason Berango being out with a bad knee, scored 27 unanswered points to cruise to a 34-13 Big Northern East win.
The win made BC playoff eligible and set up a showdown on Rocket Hill next Friday with Johnsburg for the BN-East championship.
Quarterback Adam Skirmont threw 3 touchdowns for Burlington Central, and indicated that it was a team effort and the extra film preparation gave them the edge they needed.
"Our line really had a great night tonight," Skirmont said. "I feel like I wasn't even touched once. Everybody really stepped up and made plays. It was a great team effort. We practiced hard all week and watched a lot of film, so we were very prepared for this game."
Rockets' head coach Rich Crabel credited the deep posts calls to something he and his coaches caught on film.
"We saw some things on film that made us feel like we would have an opportunity to throw the ball," Crabel said. "Adam (Skirmont) did a nice job of leading our offense and we had a great week of practice."
Midway through the first quarter, Richmond-Burton (4-3, 2-3) scored first on Marshall Woodward's 2-yard touchdown run.
The host Rockets' luck didn't change much on their next possession, driving down to Richmond-Burton's 35-yard line only to fumble the ball back to their visiting foes. But Burlington's defense was up for the challenge, and forced R-B to punt the ball.
Burlington Central (5-2, 5-0) moved the ball up to the Richmond-Burton 32-yard line, but faced fourth-and-6 as the second quarter began.
The Rockets opted to go for it instead of punt and Brenden Bushy leapt to grab Skirmont's deep pass in the end zone to take a 7-6 lead.
After forcing Richmond to punt, Central got the ball back, but an interception gave it right back to Richmond-Burton on its 37-yard line. But Richmond-Burton wasn't able to come up with any points after advancing the ball to the 18-yard line and turning it over back to Burlington on downs.
On the game's next play, Skirmont found Bushy on the left side, who subsequently turned it into an 82-yard touchdown to give the Rockets the lead. Skirmont carried in the 2-point conversion for a 13-6 lead.
Burlington Central began to separate itself on its first possession of the second half when Trevor Davison's 36-yard run put the hosts up 21-6.
Davison dove in from 1 yard out early in the fourth quarter to give the Rockets a commanding 27-6 lead, but Richmond-Burton bounced right back on the third play of its next possession when Brad Boelkow ran right and then countered back to his left and outran the Central defenders for a 47-yard touchdown that brought R-B back to within two scores.
The host Rockets put the game away for good with just over two minutes left in the game. Facing a fourth-and-6 on Richmond-Burton's 33-yard line, Skirmont fired over the middle to a wide open Ryan Anderson who sprinted the final 25 yards for the clinching score.
"They run their plays really well, so we knew we just had to stay in our lanes to hold them down," Crabel said. "Next week we play Johnsburg, which is a very talented football team. They're going to be a great test for us. Our goal is to win conference and then try to make a push in the playoffs and see what we can do."