Outside The County-Maconaquah

Results from Maconaquah for Friday, September 8th

Braves cruise past Whitko, 43-6, with homecoming victory

The Maconaquah Braves celebrated homecoming here Friday night with a 43-6 Three Rivers Conference victory over the Whitko Wildcats.

  The Braves remain perfect (3-0) in the TRC and are now 3-1 overall. Whitko drops to 1-3 on the year and is winless in three league outings.  Maconaquah has now won seven straight games vs Whitko and leads the all-time series, 8-2.  Coach Tyler Campbell's gang will host Peru Friday.  Both teams are unbeaten in conference play.


  Maconaquah scored on three of its first four possessions to take a 22-0 lead midway through the second quarter and tacked on another touchdown late in the half enroute to a 30-0 lead at intermission.


  Mac took the game's opening kick and scored at the 9:46 mark when quarterback Braxton Birner hit Fuddy Kile with an 11-yard TD pass.  The Braves got the ball back late in the period when the Wildcats muffed a punt return.  Birner teamed up with AJ Kelly on a 29-yard scoring strike with 40 seconds left and hit Kile on the conversion attempt for a 14-0 lead.


  The Birner-Kelly-Kile Show highlighted second quarter action as the trio once again accounted for a pair of Braves touchdowns and the 30-0 lead at the break.  First, Kelly hauled in another 29-yard TD pass at the 6:44 mark.  Five minutes later Kile grabbed a Birner pass, tight-roped his way down the Whitko sidelines with a 63-yard scoring scamper.  Senior Ty Galvan scored on both conversion tries.  


  After the Braves forced a Wildcat punt to start the second half, Galvan muscled his way for three first downs and moved Mac to the Whitko 25.  After Birner hit Kelly with a 16-yarder and Kile with a short pass, he connected with Oakley Reeser on a two-yard touchdown pass.  Nolan Tarrh's PAT kick gave the hosts a 37-0 lead with 6:44 showing.


 With a comfortable 37-0 lead, the IHSAA "mercy rule" went into effect and the remainder of the game was played with a running clock.  Mac's reserves closed out the final 18 minutes and put the final points on the board when freshman signal-caller Aiden Robinson hit Tarrh with a pretty 51-yard TD pass with four minutes remaining.  Whitko scored its only points on a 90-yard pass play with seven minutes to go.


 Birner finished the night with 222 yards and five touchdowns on 14-26 firing.  Robinson was 3 of 7, good for 106 yards and one TD.  Tarrh, also a freshman, led all receivers with 106 yards on two receptions.  Galvan led all rushers with 62 yards on nine carries.


 Kelly caught five passes (84 yards), while Kile (4-78) and Reeser (4-35) added to the balanced air attack.  Kile moved into seventh place on Mac's career scoring list with 162 points.  Kelly passed Deval Smith, Collin Silvers, Aaron Overman and Richie Leary with his pair of TD's and is now tied with Jim Ridenour (122 points) in 11th place all-time.


 On the defensive side of the ball, Gavin Nethercutt and Dakoda Dauenhauer led Mac with 11 and 10 tackles respectively.  Brady Dausch and Marcell Sims were each credited with seven stops.  Sims and Aiden Williams recovered Wildcat fumbles.  


 At halftime, Laci Winegardner was named homecoming queen.  DJ Elliott, who caught two passes for 30 yards, was selected homecoming king.