Results from Maconaquah for Friday, October 2nd
The Maconaquah Braves survived a topsy-turvy second half frenzy at Lewis Cass Friday night to pull out a 44-42 Three Rivers Conference win over the upset-minded Kings to remain unbeaten and on track to win their second TRC title in the past two years.
The win gives Coach Ethan Robbins and his undefeated troops a perfect 7-0 record and more importantly shoved their TRC mark to a spotless 5-0. Cass dropped to 4-3 overall and saw its league mark fall to 4-2. Northwestern is now the only conference team with one loss (4-1) and is at Rochester Friday before closing out the regular season at home hosting Northfield. Maconaquah will entertain Manchester and Rochester in its final two TRC games.
The huge win set a school record for most Brave points scored vs a Lewis Cass team . . . and the Braves needed every single point to secure the hard-fought win. The 2023 Braves defeated the Kings 43-26 three years ago, but this one was not as easy as both teams spilled their guts for 48 minutes before the outcome was decided in the final 94 seconds when Mac’s Chase Washburn recovered the Kings’ final onside kick at his own 49. Without any Cass timeouts left, Brave quarterback Aiden Robinson dropped to his knees on Mac’s next three snaps to close it out.
Over the years Maconaquah had experienced rough times when traveling to Walton to face the Kings and this game proved no different. Previously MHS had only won four times at Cass (1980, 1982, 1986 and 2024) in 28 games dating back to 1964. It is the first time that Maconaquah has beaten the Kings in four consecutive years, with Cass now leading the all-time series, 17-43.
It appeared the game would be a defensive struggle at the start as both teams failed to score in the opening period. Cass took the opening kickoff and drove to Mac’s one-yard line before Brave Nolan Tarrh snuffed out a King reverse for a three-yard loss. Taking over at its own four, Maconaquah put together one of its longest, time-consuming drives of the season to take an early 6-0 lead. Completing his first six passes, Robinson led his teammates downfield before facing a critical fourth-and-14 at the King 35. On the next play he hit slippery sophomore Tre Rader over the middle for the games first score. The impressive 13-play, 96-yard drive used nearly six minutes of clock and began the next three quarters of lighting up the scoreboard.
Cass quickly responded . . . very quickly in 13 seconds . . . as senior scatback Connyr Mack took the ensuing kick at his own 14 and promptly tied the score at 6-6 by outracing the Braves 86 yards to paydirt.
The Braves regained the lead with 8:45 left in the half when Rader hauled in a short five-yard TD pass from Robinson. Marcell Sims ran in the two-point conversion, 14-6.
The Kings reached Mac’s 19 on their next possession before a penalty and nice stop by Sims on a fourth-and-11 gave the ball back to the Braves at the MHS 23 with 4:10 showing. It took the Braves a mere 27 ticks to score again with Robinson finding Tarrh on three straight passes . . . the final one a nice 72-yard TD bomb. Tarrh’s conversion run put the Braves on top, 22-6.
The last four minutes of the opening half was prelude of things to come in the action-packed second half. Cass trimmed the Mac lead to 22-12, marching 65 yards in eight plays with Mack scoring from the nine. Sims knocked down the Kings’ two-point pass attempt with :39 left until intermission.
Starting at its own 26 after the Cass ensuing kick, Rader hauled in a 36-yard Robinson aerial moving the Braves to the King 38. After an incompletion, the hosts got the ball back with :18 remaining when Robinson was sacked and fumbled at the MHS 42. It took the Kings only one play . . . a 58-yard TD burst by Mack to chop the Cass deficit to 22-18 and give the Kings the momentum heading into the wild second half of action. Mac’s DaKoda Dauenhauer stopped the Cass two-point run attempt, preserving a Brave lead of 22-18 at the break.
Third quarter action began with Cass forcing a Brave punt on Mac’s opening drive. Taking possession at their own 29, the Kings covered the 71 yards in just less than four minutes regaining the lead at 26-22 when Mack scored from the nine and converted the two-point run. It was the first time this season that the Braves had trailed in the second half of a game.
Maconaquah began its next drive at its own 37 with 6:37 left in the period and regained the lead at 29-26 at the 2:44 mark on a five-yard TD run by Sims and a Tarrh PAT kick. The 63-yard drive was aided by a Cass late hit and pass interference penalty when Tarrh was knocked down . . . with Sims scoring on the following play.
Mack’s 41-yard kickoff return on the ensuing kick and a 13-yard run on a fourth-and-10 play kept the Kings alive on their final drive of the quarter. A nine-yard TD run by Eli Grist and two-point run by Mack would give Cass its last lead at 34-29 on the first play of the fourth stanza.
The Braves overcame a pair of holding penalties and a dead-ball personal foul to re-take the lead for good on their next drive. The go-ahead drive was highlighted by three Robinson-to-Sims passes, the last being a beautiful 26-yarder to Sims sneaking through a bevy of King defenders on a massive fourth-and-eight at the Cass 41. Sims would score from a yard out at 7:52 (Robinson conversion run) for a 37-34 lead.
Mac’s Jaxon Sullivan halted the next Cass drive by breaking up a pass on a fourth-and-nine at the the King 38. Sims then took control, getting the call on five of the next six plays and scoring on a 17-yard run with 2:15 to go. Tarrh’s perfect boot put MHS on top, 44-34. After the Kings trimmed it to 44-42 with 1:34 left, Washburn gobbled up the onside kick . . . Robinson took the final three snaps . . . ending the game.
The elusive Mack led Cass with 191 yards on 23 carries. He scored four touchdowns and added three conversion runs for a total of 30 points. Sims rushed for 101 on 20 totes to lead the victorious Braves’ ground game. His three rushing TD’s and conversion run gives him 116 points this season, making him only the second player in school history to score 100+ points in three consecutive seasons. Carter Little accomplished the feat during the 2018-20 seasons. Sims also hauled in 10 Robinson passes for 104 yards. Tarrh led all receivers with 148 yards on 10 receptions. Rader finished with 92 yards on four catches.
Robinson who entered the game as the state’s leader in TD passes and passing yardage finished with 344 yards, connecting on 24 of his 30 attempts. According to MaxPreps, Robinson was #6 in the nation for TD passes thrown.
He now has throw for 2279 yards this year and becomes the first QB in school history to have thrown for over 2000 yards in three different seasons. He has now thrown for 8222 yards during his career at Maconaquah.
On the defense side of the ball, Dauenhauer led the Braves with 11 tackles. Tarrh and Sullivan added 10 each, while Evan Blake and Aiden Ousley were each credited with nine stops. Jayden Fitzpatrick had 8 tackles, while Sims and Washburn chipped in with six apiece. Others were: Jorden Van Ness (5) and Brayden Tabler (4) which included two tackles for loss.
SIDELINE NOTES >>>>>
. . . . Tarrh’s TD catch, two PAT kicks and conversion run now gives him 307 career points . . . ranking #5 on
Maconaquah’s all-time scoring list
. . . . Coach Robbins becomes only the second different coach in MHS history to win seven straight games to
start a season. Coach Michael Fenters did it each of the past two years. (Last week it was noted that only
three coaches had won six straight seasons. While it was reported that Bart Curtis did it in 1991, it should
be noted that Coach Ron Wilson was the first to accomplish this feat in 1982
. . . . Maconaquah was ranked #9 in the latest Class 3A USA/Today poll and #11 in the IFCA poll
. . . . MHS scored 40+ points for the sixth time this season. The record (7) was set by the 2024 sectional champs
