Maconaquah Schools

Senior running back Marcell Sims scored a school-record 44 points at Peru Friday night in leading the Maconaquah Braves to a 63-42 win in the 56th meeting between the two county rivals in the annual backyard brawl. Getting his first offensive carries since an injury in Maconaquah's season-opener at Sheridan, Sims ripped the hosts for 183 yards on 23 carries, scoring the Braves first four touchdowns. All told, he would rush for five scores and score two more times on TD passes of 32 and three yards from quarterback Aiden Robinson. Sims would also score two points on a conversion run in the third quarter. Sims and Carter Little held the previous record for most points in a single game (36). The win gives coach Ethan Robbins and his unbeaten 5-0 Braves a perfect 3-0 Three Rivers Conference mark. Peru is now 2-2 in league play and dropped to 2-3 on the season. The hard-earned win, along with Rochester's 28-8 setback vs Lewis Cass sets up Friday's huge TRC battle between the lone unbeatens in conference games. Northwestern kept its TRC slate clean at 4-0 by defeating Whitko, 59-12. Robbins called the game a "great win", meeting with the team following the game. "It's the first time we've been tested and it's a great opportunity for us to grow as a team." I'm extremely proud," he said. Much like last year's 31-28 MHS win that wasn't decided until the final 129 seconds when Nolan Tarrh settled the issue with a 23-yard field goal, this game kept the overflow crowd on the edge of their seats until Mac scored the games final two touchdowns and sent Tiger fans heading to the exits after Peru had trimmed it to 48-42 midway through the third quarter. The high-scoring affair began with Peru taking the opening kick, methodically marching 72 yards to paydirt in 10 plays for a 7-0 lead . . . the first time Maconaquah had trailed this season and the first time it had been scored upon in the opening period. It took the Braves only 24 seconds to answer as Tre Rader returned the ensuing kick 32 yards to the PHS 44. Sims began his magic on the next play, taking a handoff from Robinson, reversing his field and sprinting 44 yards for his first TD of the night. Tarrh's first of seven PAT kicks tied the game at 7-7 with 7:13 on the clock. After the Tigers scored on their second possession and took a 13-7 lead, Rader once again put the Braves in PHS territory with a nice 45-yard kick return. A 10-yard TD run by Sims (Tarrh PAT) made it 14-13 with 2:19 showing. An alert Tru Brown pounced on a Tiger fumble on the ensuing kick at the Peru 37 and set up Maconaquah's next touchdown. A Robinson-to-Sims 32-yard TD strike 62 seconds later put MHS on top, 21-13, at the end of the opening 12 minutes of action. Both teams scored three times in the wild second stanza that saw Mac take a 28-13 lead only to see Peru claw back and knot things at 28-all at the 6:50 mark. The first of Aiden Ousley's two Peru interceptions set up Mac's first TD in the quarter . . . a 14-yard touchdown run by Sims. Tarrh's perfect boot made it 28-13. Peru followed and forced a 28-28 deadlock with scoring drives of 80 and 46 yards. The Tigers would get no closer as the Braves got an 18-yard TD burst from Alexzander Martin and a two-yard TD run by Sims. Sims' score was set up by a big defensive stop by Tarrh, DaKoda Dauenhauer and a host of their buddies when Peru gambled on a fourth-and-two at its own 34 and came up a yard short. Taking over at its own 35 with 1:39 left in the half, it took the hosts only 1:21 to score again and chop Maconaquah's lead to 42-35 at intermission. Three Brave penalties, including a 15-yard personal foul and a ghost-like pass interference call against Sims who had apparently snuffed out the drive with an interception in the endzone aided the Tiger cause. The Braves took the kick to start the second half and quickly went to its patented air assault to add another touchdown for a 48-35 lead. Two Robinson-to-Treson Ambrose passes did the damage, first a 35-yard beauty and then an 11-yard TD strike in the corner of the endzone. Ambrose led MHS receivers with a career-high 99 yards on four catches. After MHS failed to capitalize on Ousley's second pick of the night at the 7:57 mark, Tiger quarterback Aiden Sheets outran everyone on a 92-yard TD sprint and chopped Maconaquah's lead to 48-42. Chandler Mofield recovered Peru's next onside kick attempt and the Braves went back to work . . . with Sims scoring from a yard out with 3;20 remaining and then adding the conversion two-point tally . . . 56-42. Peru's first possession the fourth period was halted when senior Jorden Van Ness intercepted a Sheets pass at the Mac 35. The Braves then put together their longest scoring drive of the game (65 yards), using 10 plays and 4:51 of precious clock before Sims scored his final points of the game on a short three-yard TD pass from Robinson. Tarrh split the uprights for the final 63-42 Brave triumph. Robinson, who entered the game as the state's leader in passing yards and touchdown passes, finished with 228 yards, connecting on 22 of his 32 attempts. Both teams combined for 869 yards of total offense, with Peru holding a slight edge 438-431. Topping Maconaquah's tackle chart were: Evan Blake (13), Tarrh (12) and Dauenhauer (9). Ousley was credited with 8 stops to go along with his two picks. Chase Washburn had six tackles, while Sullivan and Eli Grezegorski followed with five and four respectively. Dauenhauer had three tackles for loss, with Blake and Sullivan adding one TFL each. Rader (2), Sullivan and Tarrh each deflected Tiger passes in the game. > > > > SIDELINE NOTES > >> > . . . . With his big 44-point scoring night, Sims moved past the great Fuddy Kile into second place on Mac's career scoring list. Sims now has 378 points. Carter Little is the MHS all-time leader with 386 . . . . With the win, Maconaquah closed the gap in the all-time series, with PHS now leading, 30-26 dating back to 1963 . . . . The Braves were ranked #10 in the latest USA Today Class 3A poll and #13 in the IFCA poll . . . . Sims finished the game with 183 rushing yards on 23 attempts and was awarded the "Game Tiger" after the game for his record-breaking performance . . . . 63 points scored by the Braves is the third-highest total in school history . . . . 63 points scored by Mac is the most-ever by a Brave team vs Peru. 47 was the previous record in 2011 . . . . 105 combined points by both teams fell short of the school-record 108 established in 2008 when Peru defeated the Braves, 69-39 . . . . MHS cheerleaders got tired doing pushups after Brave touchdowns. They would have done 314 pushups during the game if not turning it over to the guys in the raucous student cheering section . . . . Great Maconaquah crowd at the game and it was "A GREAT NIGHT TO BE A BRAVE"!! . . . . MHS Homecoming Friday night when Northwestern visits Maconaquah in the battle of TRC unbeatens