Richmond too much for Central

BURLINGTON – The sloppy weather conditions Friday night didn't slow down Richmond-Burton one bit.

The visiting Rockets amassed 460 yards of total offense in the mud and rolled past Burlington Central 48-14 in Big Northern Conference East Division action. Central (2-4, 1-1) had a hard time stopping R-B's three-headed monster at running back of Justin Russell, Kenneth Riordan and Chad O'Kane. The trio combined for 262 yards rushing.

"They have a real good offensive scheme," said Central coach Aaron Wichman. "They have three really good running backs who are equally good. And they can throw the ball and they're well-coached and they execute. They are a tough team to defend."

Early on it looked like Central might be able to keep up with R-B offensively. After Richmond (5-1, 2-0) marched 61 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, Central answered with a 57-yard drive, ending with a 2-yard TD run by Tre Llanes. That tied the score at 7.

However, the Central offense sputtered after that, managing just two first downs during the rest of the first half. R-B -- ranked ninth in the Class 4A state poll -- just continued to roll.

R-B drove 65 yards and 33 yards on its next two possessions and both ended in TD runs by Riordan. That gave the visitors a 21-7 advantage. R-B quarterback Adam Pittser added scoring passes of 54 and 46 yards later in the second quarter to make it a 34-7 halftime score.

"We had a little momentum after scoring the touchdown to tie it," said Wichman. "But then we started giving up some plays. That's been our Achilles heel this year. We find ourselves playing catch-up instead of taking it to the other team."

Central had a brief revival early in the third quarter, recovering a muffed point at the R-B 28-yard line. Central scored the very next play on Llanes' second TD of the game, but the hosts couldn't sustain the rally. Richmond continued to pull away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Llanes was Central's lone bright spot. The junior tailback finished with 125 yards on 21 carries. Central only had 144 yards of offense and was hurt by three turnovers on its homecoming.

RICHMOND-BURTON 48, BURLINGTON CENTRAL 14

R-B              21       13      0      14   –   48

Central           7         0      7        0   –   14

Scoring

R-B: O'Kane 43 run (Klingenberg kick), 10:04

BC: Llanes 2 run (Vincent kick), 6:39

R-B: Russell 15 run (Klingenberg kick), 3:46

R-B: Russell 23 run (Klingenberg kick), :51

R-B: O'Kane 54 pass from Pittser (kick failed), 5:58

R-B: Russell 46 pass from Pittser (Klingenberg kick), 3:34

BC: Llanes 28 run (Vincent kick), 8:22

R-B: Russell 5 run (Klingenberg kick), 12:31

R-B: Banwart 85 run (Klingenberg kick), 1:42

Team statistics             R-B           BC

First downs                      16              9

Pass-Att-Comp-Int        3-5-0        1-4-0

Passing Yards                 107              3

Rushes Att-Yards          38-351      51-141

Total Yards                    458             144

Penalties-Yards              5-30             1-5

Fumbles-Lost                  1-1              6-3

Individual statistics

Rushing

R-B: O'Kane 10-114, Riordan 15-79, Russell 10-69, Banwart 1-85.

BC: Llanes 21-125, Westergaard 9-13, Gallo 1-2, Maroder 14-(minus 3), Mendez 3-1, Cardenas 1-(minus 2), Lange 2-5.

Passing

R-B: Pittser 3-5-0 107.

BC: Maroder 1-4-0 3.

Receiving

R-B: O'Kane 1-54, Russell 1-46, Wismer 1-7.

BC: Kellenberger 1-3.