Maconaquah Schools

It was a "wild and wet" night for Maconaquah first-year coach Ethan Robbins and his gridders Friday night at Sheridan as his troops captured a thrilling, hard-fought bout over the tradition-rich Blackhawks, 42-27. Wild... yes. The Braves jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and never looked back, holding off the hosts with big defensive plays throughout the slugfest. Sheridan trimmed Mac's lead to seven (14-7 and 21-14) in the second quarter, but the Braves stretched it to 29-14 to start the third quarter, scoring on their opening drive and kept the margin at eight or more points the remainder of the game. Wet... yes. In claiming his first win as a varsity coach, Robbins "soaked up the victory" at midfield following the game when his players drenched him with a cooler of ice cold water. The 20th football coach in MHS history told his players "You beat a really, really good team tonite. "We have depth and we played all four quarters and were stepping up on defense." After Sheridan (ranked #8 in the Class 1A preseason IFCA poll), was forced to punt on its opening possession, Mac's lethal pass-catch combination of senior quarterback Aiden Robinson and receiver Nolan Tarrh wasted no time in lighting up the scoreboard, teaming up on a pretty 93-yard touchdown strike before most fans had settled in their seats. Tarrh's PAT kick put the Braves on top, 7-0, at the 9:25 mark. Maconaquah (ranked #10 in the Class 3A poll), stymied Sheridan with a swarming defense and started its second scoring drive with 9:19 left in the second period after Dakoda Dauenhauer recovered a Blackhawk fumble at the Sheridan 18. Eight seconds later Marcell Sims grabbed a Robinson pass and raced 18 yards to paydirt. Tarrh's PAT boot shoved Mac's lead to 14-0. Sheridan took the ensuing kick, used 10 running plays and 4:49 of clock before Landon Moffitt scored from a yard out with 4:22 remaining, 14-7. The Braves fought back with Robinson directing the aerial assault again. After a short pass to Tre Rader, Robinson hit Tarrh with a pair of 11-yard first down tosses moving the pigskin to the Blackhawk 40. After Sims gained to the 35 he broke several tackles up the middle and had Mac in the redzone at the 18. The ball was moved to the nine when Tarrh was tackled (pass interference) on a pass. The Braves jumped out to a 21-7 lead on the next play when Robinson found Rader in the endzone (Tarrh PAT kick). It looked as if Maconaquah would carry the 21-7 into intermission, but after Sheridan recovered an onside kick it took the hosts only 72 seconds to score and trim Mac's seemingly safe lead to 21-14 with :05 on the clock. The third quarter proved to be the wildest as both squads scored twice, sending the Braves into the fourth stanza with a slim 35-27 lead. Maconaquah scored on its opening drive at the 9:28 mark when Robinson connected with Sims coming out the backfield for a 15-yard touchdown pass. MHS owned a 29-14 lead when Sims picked up a low snap on the PAT kick attempt and raced around his left end untouched for two points. After Sheridan cut the deficit to 29-21 (80-yard scoring drive), Maconaquah was forced to punt twice setting up perhaps the turning point of the game. Starting at its own 48 with 4:28 on the clock, the Blackhawks ran two plays and were facing a big third-and-two at the Mac 44 yard line. Sheridan's top runner, Hayden Alexander got the call and was met head-on by a host of Braves up the middle. Fighting for more yardage and the crucial first down, Alexander was stripped of the ball by MHS senior Brayden Tabler. Tabler swiped the ball in the scrum and got a Brave escort from 55 yards out for the huge defensive touchdown.... the sixth longest fumble recovery TD in Maconaquah history. The Braves led 35-21 with 4:28 showing after a missed PAT kick attempt. The Blackhawks chopped it to 35-27 with :44 left in the third quarter on a 28-yard TD pass. The Braves were whistled for pass interference on the PAT conversion try and stopped the Blackhawks cold on their next attempt from two yards out. The Braves settled the issue midway through the fourth quarter when they got the ball back at their own 27 when Alexzander Martin's nice pass-breakup stopped a Sheridan scoring threat. From its own 27, Maconaquah delivered the knockout punch in just six plays. Five Robinson passes (Rader 3-20 yards) and Tarrh (2-50 yards) moved the ball to the three, where Robinson bulled his way up the middle for the last touchdown of the game. Tarrh's point-after boot provide the final count, 42-27. Defensively, Tarrh (13), Dauenhauer (11) and Sullivan (10) topped the tackles chart. Evan Blake was credited with 9 stops, while Chase Washburn, Eli Grzegorski and Rader each had six. In the trenches where the Braves racked up 469 yards of total offense were: Tyler Adams, Evan Blake, Dauenhauer, Grezegorski, Chandler Mofield, Tabler and Washburn. * * * * * * * * * Sideline Notes . . . . . . . . It was the first-ever meeting between the Braves and Sheridan. Sheridan, which has won the state championship nine times, replaced Wabash in Game 1 due to the Apaches' low number of players . . . . Robinson finished the night with 23 of 38 passing.... good for 389 yards and four touchdowns . . . . 389 passing yards is the sixth-highest total in the MHS record books . . . . Tarrh shattered his previous school record (247) of receiving yardage with an eye-popping 307 on on 13 catches. He became the seventh player at MHS to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards (1286) "I couldn't have done it without the team," he said following the game. "I give the record to them. This is what we work for all summer long and we're not stopping either." . . . . The 93-yard Robinson-to-Tarrh TD bomb is the second-longest in school history . . . . Sims paced the ground attack with 85 yards on eight carries. By scoring 14 points he became only the fourth player in MHS history to surpass 300 points in a career. He now has 310 . . . . Maconaquah will hit the road with another big game on Friday facing Class 1A #11 ranked Carroll . . . . IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT TO BE A BRAVE!!!