Outside The County-Maconaquah

Results from Maconaquah for Friday, September 23rd & Saturday, September 24th

The Maconaquah Braves watched a 28-6 third quarter lead evaporate here Friday night and then stuffed a pair of North Miami two-point conversion runs in the final eight minutes to preserve a 28-26 victory in front of a large homecoming crowd.

 The hard-earned triumph sets up Friday's Three Rivers Conference showdown at Tippecanoe Valley where both Maconaquah and Valley will lock horns with perfect 5-0 TRC slates.  The Vikings are ranked 13th in the latest AP poll and are the defending league champs.  The Braves are now 5-1 on the year and riding a four-game win streak.  North Miami is now 3-3 overall and dropped to 2-3 in TRC play.  Mac leads the all-time series 25-13-1.  The Braves join the 2018 squad as the only two teams in Maconaquah's 60-year history to start conference play with 5-0 records.


 Maconaquah's third mythical Miami County Championship in the past five years was anything but easy as the Warriors used a late rally to nearly topple the Braves.  North Miami fell behind 28-6 midway through the third quarter and then scored three times in next 20 minutes to nearly pull off the upset.


 Miscues and penalties hurt Coach Tyler Campbell's gang as the Braves drove to the NM one and five yard lines in the first and fourth quarters only to lose possession on an interception and fumble.  In the final minute of the first half the Braves had a 26-yard Braxton Birner to Kaleb Shelton TD pass negated on a penalty.


 Birner, the state's third-leading passer, did finish with 302 yards and three touchdowns on 30-45 accuracy.  His school-record of 100 consecutive passes without an interception was halted on the first quarter interception.  He has now thrown 20 TD passes this year, breaking his own mark of 19 set in 2021.


 Birner hit Fuddy Kile with a 33-yard TD strike to get Mac on the scoreboard first.  Kyler Hanson's PAT kick with 1:57 left in the first quarter gave the Braves a 7-0 lead.  Kile, who entered the contest as the state's 10th leading receiver, entertained the crowd with a school-record 14 catches (176 yards) and became only the fourth player in MHS history to surpass 1000 yards in a career.  His TD catch also tied the single-season mark of eight, now shared with Brian Troyer (1974) and Jon Betzner (1975).  Kile now has 86 career receptions, breaking the previous school record (79) set by David Stogsdill in 1985.


 AJ Kelly upped Maconaquah's lead to 15-6 with 8:05 left in the first half when he hauled in a 20-yard TD pass from Birner and then ran around his left end for the two-point conversion.  Kelly finished with 85 yards on eight receptions. 


 After Shelton's TD was called back, he later scored on a two-yard run as the Braves cashed in on their opening drive to start the second half.  Hanson's kick shoved Mac's lead to 22-6 at the 10:18 mark.  Shelton also had eight catches (49 yards) and ended North Miami's final drive in the first half with an interception.


  Maconaquah's lead ballooned to 28-6 with 7:30 showing in the third quarter when Birner teamed up with Ty Galvan on an eight-yard TD pass.  


  North Miami, which finished with 376 yards rushing, scored on three of it's final four possessions and trimmed Mac's lead to 28-26 with :19 remaining.  Kile recovered the Warrior's short kick and Birner took a knee on three consecutive snaps to secure the triumph.


 On the defensive side of the ball, Shelton and Ethan Farnell topped the tackle chart with 12 and 11 stops respectively.  Carsten Hollars (9), Jackson Garber (8), Brady Dausch (7) and Austin Ringeisen (7) added support.


 At halftime, Jackson Collins and Ella Santos were named King and Queen.

**

The boys soccer team improves to 13-1 on the season and won the Winamac Invite for the 2nd year in a row.

The team took an early lead when Zach Sparks drew a foul on an attack in the Washington penalty box. Isaac Lorenz stayed perfect on PK kicks for the year and gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. The 2nd goal came with nearly 6 minutes remaining in the 1st half when Bauer Maple out ran the defense and beat the goalie. The 3rd goal, which was Bauer’s 5th of the day came from a header off a Zach Sparks corner kick with less than a minute left in the first half. The 2nd half saw Mac score 1 more goal when Kevin Nord cleaned up a loose ball and put a great shot on goal over the goalies head.

The team is now preparing for Monday night when Manchester comes to Maconaquah in what will be a battle for the TRC championship. The team would love to see the stands full for this great test as Manchester is 11-2-1 on the season and undefeated in TRC play.

**

The Maconaquah girls cross country team once again ran in the open division at the Culver Academies Invitational, facing some of the strongest teams in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. They came away finishing in 8th place out of 25 teams.

Abby Jordan paced the team, finishing 14th overall and crossing the line in 19:26.

Freshman Zoie Laber ran a personal-best time of 20:27 while finishing in 39th place.

Freshman Chloe Jordan finished in 54th place and ran a 20:50.

Sophomore Samantha Jones also ran well, placing 66th overall with a personal-best time of 21:11, and fellow sophomore Lucy Loshnowsky was not far behind, also running her best time ever (21:21, 73rd place).

Sophomore Aubrey McClain ran a best-ever 22:06 and finished in 118th place, while junior Lauren Driscoll (164th place, 23:27) had her best race of the season.

The Lady Braves will compete for their first-ever Three Rivers Conference crown on Saturday at Tippecanoe Valley High School.

**

The team started fast in the early game jumping to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd minute and didn’t slow dowm much after. The only negative for the boys occured when a Winamac attack beat our defense to score their sole goal of the day. With the score at halftime 6-1 the entire bench was able to get valuable minutes and rest our legs.

The 2nd half picked up where the first ended and the Braves finished the game early as a result of the mercy rule. Scoring for Maconaquah was Bauer Maple and Isaac Lorenz each with a hat-trick. Zach Sparks, Ethan Zeiser, Connor Kubly and Alex Hicks each with 1 goal. Bennett Isenburg and Zack Sparks each recorded 2 assists, Ethan Zeiser and Kyler Hanson also recorded assists.

**

On a beautiful September day, the Maconaquah boys cross country team ran a terrific race at the 40th annual Culver Academies Cross Country Invitational, coming home with a fourth-place finish out of 29 teams competing!

Once again, junior Isaiah Wittenberg was the Braves front-runner, finishing in 6th place overall with a time of 17:04.

Sophomore Daylen Schrock finished in 11th place in 17:30, while junior Kaden Miller ran a 18:13 to finish in 35th place.

Freshman Kaden Hanson ran another personal-best time of 18:31 while placing 44th, and junior Isaiah Moore rounded out the Maconaquah scoring, placing 100th and completing the course in 19:34.

Junior Jacob Sayger (222nd, 23:20) had another personal-best effort, and sophomore Luke Abbott (246th, 26:36) shaved off another 90 seconds off last week’s run at New Prairie.

The team will travel to Tippecanoe Valley High School next Saturday to run in the Three Rivers Conference championship meet.