Botsford scores three TDs in Central victory

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MARENGO -- The playoffs may be out of the question, but that didn't seem to matter much to Burlington Central on Friday night.

The Rockets pounded out 304 yards on the ground and rolled over Marengo 35-14 in Big Northern Conference East Division action.

Junior quarterback Tim Botsford rushed for 142 yards on 15 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Rockets (2-5, 2-1).

"We talked before the game about playing for Central High School tradition, and just taking the field to get better," said Central coach Aaron Wichman. "The kids kind of took that to heart. It says a lot about them to come out and still play as hard as they did tonight. I especially thought the seniors came out and played with a lot of pride."

After a scoreless first period, Botsford had touchdown runs of 26 and 22 yards in the second quarter to put the Rockets up 14-0. Jeremy Lee added a 15-yard touchdown run before the half to extend the Rockets' advantage to 20-0 at the break.

Central outgained Marengo 243-41 in first-half yardage.

"We had a real good week of practice," said Botsford. "We're still playing for pride, and we just want to keep working hard to get better. We had some good blocking up front, and that gave me some holes to run through. We didn't really plan on having me run that much, but it worked a few times early on so we kept going back to it."

Botsford added a 19-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, which put Central up 35-7 at the time.

"A couple of weeks ago he opened some eyes with his ability to pass the ball," said Wichman. "Tonight he opened some eyes with the ability to run it. I thought he showed a lot of patience and let plays develop. Then when he had to, he did a great job of improvising."

After Marengo (1-6, 0-3) scored on the third play of the second half to pull to within 20-7, Tommy Gast came right back for the Rockets with a 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to keep Central in control.