Outside The County-Maconaquah

Results from Maconaquah for Friday, September 9th

The Maconaquah Braves raced to a 46-0 halftime lead here Friday night and went on to post a 53-8 win over the Whitko Wildcat in Three Rivers Conference action.

 The lopsided victory kept Maconaquah's TRC record spotless at 3-0.  The Braves are now 3-1 overall and will travel to Peru Friday for their annual intra-county rivalry slugfest with the Tigers.   Whitko is now 0-4 and remained winless in three conference game.


 Tippecanoe Valley and Rochester, both sitting with 3-0 perfect league marks, will collide at Valley Friday in another key TRC battle.


 Brave coach Tyler Campbell watched his squad storm to a 33-0 lead at the end of the first period as his troops scored on four of their first five possessions and added a special teams touchdown when sophomore speedster AJ Kelly returned a punt 57 yards to paydirt.


Mac took the opening kickoff and used just 42 ticks off the clock before quarterback Braxton Birner hit Kelly with a seven-yard scoring strike.  Kyler Hanson booted the PAT, 7-0


 Junior Ty Galvan scored the next TD with a 32-yard scamper three minutes later and Kelly made it 20-0 with his nice punt return at the 4:27 mark.  Galvan rushed for a game-high 84 yards on just six carries and scored Maconaquah's final TD midway through the third quarter.


 The Braves stretched the lead to 33-0 at the end of the opening act when Birner teamed up with soph Fuddy Kile with TD passes covering 31 and 68 yards.  Kile led MHS receivers with 100 yards on three receptions


 When Brady Dausch stepped in front of a Wildcat pass to start the second period and returned it 47 yards for another Brave score, the lead ballooned to 39-0 and the officials informed both coaches that the IHSAA "Mercy Rule" would go into effect and the remainder of the game would be played with a running clock.  


 Mac's next touchdown came with 5:35 left in the third period when Kaleb Shelton grabbed a Birner pass and bolted 35 yards for a 46-0 lead.  Hanson added another PAT.  Birner's fourth TD pass of the night was the 32nd of his career and broke the previous career mark set by Jon Morrell in 1987.  Birner would finish the night 217 yards, completing 12 of 14 passes.


 In command 53-0 following Galvan's second tally of the night, Campbell watched his reserves finish the contest.  


  Whitko was playing without ex-coach Chip Coldiron who was fired on Monday after losing its first three games and being outscored 169-0.  The Wildcats never entered Brave territory the entire game and didn't record their initial first down until the final play of the third stanza.  They would get their first TD of the year early in the fourth period when quarterback Jack Hill teamed up with Trevor Freel on a 50-yard bomb.  On the night,  Whitko finished with 55 yards of total offense, while the Braves racked up 324.


 For the second game in a row, linebackers Gavin Nethercutt and Ethan Farnell led the defensive unit.  Both had six tackles and Farnell pounced on a pair fo Wildcat fumbles.  MJ Ellis and Wyatt Wood also had fumble recoveries.  Eli Price was credited with five tackles and a forced fumble.  Dausch and Kyle Bockover also recorded forced fumbles as the Wildcats coughed the pigskin up four times.