Rockets too much for Whip-Purs
HAMPSHIRE -- When Matthew Iwanski lined up Friday for Richmond-Burton's first punt with 50 seconds left in the fourth quarter, it provided pretty solid evidence that the Rockets offensive line had dominated Hampshire all night.
Richmond-Burton's line took control from the start on a rainy, muddy night and paved the way for 362 rushing yards in a 37-14 Big Northern Conference East Division victory over the Whip-Purs.
"Richmond is a very good football team -- they're everything as advertised," Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh said. "They're physical and very good. It's hard to stop them."
Chad O'Kane rushed for 132 yards on nine carries, Kenneth Riordan 79 yards on six tries and Justin Russell 73 yards on six carries before the Rockets -- ranked 10th in Class 4A -- went to their bench late in the third quarter.
But the night really belonged to R-B's offensive line of Tyler Olker, Bradley Jacobs, Joshua Rymarz, Christopher Friedle and Nicholas Dittmar. The steady, light rain certainly didn't bother them while they moved the Hampshire defense to the side.
"We don't have to hold onto the ball," Jacobs explained. "We've just got to hit people."
Russell scored on a 24-yard first-quarter TD run, Kyle Wismer caught a 17-yard TD pass from quarterback Adam Pittser, Pittser scored on a 2-yard sneak, and Kevin Klingenberg kicked a 36-yard field goal with two seconds left in the first half for a 24-6 Richmond-Burton lead.
In the third quarter, O'Kane put it out of Hampshire's reach with TD runs of 21 and 77 yards.
Hampshire (1-4, 0-1) flashed signs of a passing attack as quarterback Ryan Burke completed 6 of 17 for 60 yards and had a certain 69-yard touchdown pass dropped, but the rain made passing almost impossible.
"It's hard to throw the ball in that; that hurt us," Cavanaugh said. "We're a balanced offense and that didn't help us."
The Whip-Purs showed fight early when senior Ron Laramie ran 2 yards for a TD to end a 71-yard drive with 2:23 left in the second quarter, but the conversion kick was blocked to keep R-B (4-1, 1-0) ahead 7-6.
Hampshire kept fighting late, as Laramie scored on a 55-yard TD run with 2:20 left in the third quarter and eventually finished with 95 yards on 11 carries.
The Whip-Purs' defense got fourth-quarter fumble recoveries by Glen Buckwinkler and Kyle Hemmila, and Laramie and Chris Toma kept delivering big hits, but there was no denying R-B.
"We don't quit and that's what we told them afterwards," Cavanaugh said. "We play hard and they (R-B) obviously were stronger, more physical.
"But I can't ask anything else of the team than that."
RICHMOND-BURTON 37, HAMPSHIRE 14
Richmond-Burton 14 10 13 0 -- 37
Hampshire 6 0 8 0 -- 14
R -- Justin Russell 24 run (Kevin Klingenberg kick) 9:40, 1st
H -- Ron Laramie 2 run (kick blocked) 2:23, 1st
R -- Kyle Wismer 17 pass from Adam Pittser 1:03, 1st
R -- Pittser 2 run (Klingenberg kick) 9:49, 2nd
R -- Klingenberg 36-yard FG :02, 2nd
R -- Chad O'Kane 21 run (kick failed) 10:29, 3rd
R -- O'Kane 77 run (Klingenberg kick), 4:12, 3rd
H -- Laramie 55 run (Alex Niccum pass from Ryan Burke) 2:20, 3rd
RB HAMP
First downs 21 13
Rushes-yards 45-362 32-155
Passes 1-3-0 6-17-1
Passing yards 17 60
Total yards 379 215
Fumbles 4-2 2-0
Penalties-yards 5-55 6-60
Punts 1-44 5-29.5
Individual statistics
Rushing:
Richmond-Burto --: Russell 6-73, Connor Graves 3-20, O'Kane 9-132, Ryne Pearson 4-24, Kenneth Riordan 10-79, Pittser 1-2, Jeffrey Robison 3-(minus)6, Devin Weiland 2-12, Austin Gunderson 7-26.
Hampshire -- Mike Kuefner 4-7, A.J. Sabate 3-12, Laramie 11-95, Caleb Kendricks 9-38, Burke 5-3.
Passing:
Richmond-Burton: Pittser 1-3-0-17.
Hampshire: Burke 6-17-1-60.
Receiving:
Richmond-Burton: Wismer 1-17.
Hampshire: Niccum 2-11, Ray Quesada 3-43, Caleb Hendricks 1-6.
