Outside The County-Maconaquah

Results from Maconaquah for Friday, October 6th

The Maconaquah Braves used a balanced attack at Wabash Friday night to race past the Apaches, 55- 13, in Three Rivers Conference action.

 In all, seven different Braves scored touchdowns enroute to the lopsided win.  Kickers Nolan Tarrh (6 PAT) and Winston Gillies (1 PAT) added the extra points for Mac's highest point total of the season and seventh highest in school history.


 The Braves, now 6-2 on the year, will finish regular season play at Rochester on Friday in a key TRC matchup.  Both squads own 6-1 league slates, one game behind unbeaten (7-0) Peru.  Wabash is now 1-6 in the TRC and dropped to 1-7 overall.  Maconaquah has now won six straight vs Wabash and leads the all-time series, 6-2.


 In a game showcasing the TRC's top two leading quarterbacks in passing yardage, it was Maconaquah's balanced attack that pleased third-year Brave coach Tyler Campbell as he checked the stat sheet following the contest.   The Braves rushed for 246 yards (most since Campbell arrived at Mac) and passed for an additional 271, with senior veteran Braxton Birner and freshman Aiden Robinson sharing signal-calling duties.  The 517 yards total offense ranks sixth-best in school history and is the most since 2014.


 Maconaquah's hard-hitting defense set up a pair of first-quarter scores after Ty Galvan's two-yard TD run got the Braves on the board on their opening possession at the 10:29 mark.  Brady Dausch and Kaleb Shelton recovered fumbles on bone-jarring hits by Gavin Nethercutt and Dakoda Dauenhauer.  Austin Ringeisen stripped the pigskin on Nethercutt's hit and Dausch scooped it up at the Wabash 23. 


 Birner and company took over from there and it took only 85 seconds before he hit Fuddy Kile with a 13-yard scoring strike.  Tarrh's PAT kick made it 14-0.  After Shelton's recovery, it took the Braves just 55 ticks to reach paydirt when Galvan scored from the three, 21-0.  Kile led a group of nine different Brave receivers with 90 yards on six catches.  Birner (8-58) and Galvan (11-55) led the rushing attack.  Connor Eldridge added 47 yards, including a 19-yard TD run, on five carries in the final quarter.


 AJ Kelly hauled in a 40-yard TD strike from Birner to close out the first half scoring, 28-7, with 3:20 showing.


 The Braves opened the second half with a perfectly-executed onside kick recovered by Dausch.  Three minutes later Birner hit a wide-open Oakley Reeser with a 16-yard TD pass.  Tarrh's PAT boot made it 35-7.  Birner finished with 187 yards (13-25) and three touchdowns before turning things over to Robinson with 9:04 showing in the third stanza.


After Robinson completed passes to Kile and Marcell Sims, Mac took a 42-7 lead when Sims darted 31 yards up the middle for a score midway through the quarter.  At that point the IHSAA "Mercy Rule" went into effect and the remainder of the game was played with a running clock. 


 After Wabash cut the lead to 42-13 to open the fourth period on a 35-yard pass play, Robinson directed a pair of scoring drives to close out the scoring.    Dausch was on the receiving end (23 yards) of the first touchdown.  On Mac's final possession, Eldridge carried the load and scampered in from 19 yards out on the final play of the game.


 Defensively, Ringeisen topped a balanced tackle chart with seven stops.  Kelly and Nethercutt had six tackles, while DJ Elliott and Dausch were each credited with five.  Reeser and Sims added four apiece.


 Sideline notes . . . . Kile became the third player in MHS history to score over 200 points.  The sure-handed junior passed Vernon Robinson and now sits alone in third place with 204.  Carter Little (386) and Cody Hicks (314) are the top two scorers in school history.


 . . . Kelly's TD reception moved him past Eric Maris and Alan Mills into ninth place on Mac's career scoring list with 136 points.


 . . . Birner has now passed for over 2,000 yards this season after setting the school record (2,779) as a junior in 2022.


 . . . On the road again . . .The Braves tied a school record by winning their fourth road game of the season. 


 . . .  Maconaquah's first-round Class 3A sectional 28 opponent in the upcoming 51st annual state tournament will be announced Sunday at 6 pm when the IHSAA conducts its annual pairings show on the IHSAA Champions Network.