Maconaquah Schools

The Maconaquah Braves opened IHSAA Class 3A Sectional 28 first round action at home Friday night by scoring a pair of touchdowns in a 32-second span at the end of the first half enroute to a convincing 52-20 win over the Eastbrook Panthers. The victory improves Maconaquah's record to a perfect 10-0 and will send Coach Ethan Robbins' Braves to West Lafayette (3-7) Friday evening for a rematch of the Mac's 2024 sectional championship with the Red Devils. West Lafayette defeated Northwestern 49-14 to advance to the semifinals. Eastbrook finished the year with a 5-5 record. Maconaquah's defense set the tone in the deciding second quarter of action by forcing a punt, a turnover on downs and a pair of fumbles . . . turning it all into 20 points and a 28-7 lead at intermission. Senior Evan Blake got things rolling on Eastbrook's opening possession in the quarter when he forced a fumble at midfield that teammate Jorden Van Ness returned 29 yards to the Panther 19 yard line. The Braves would take the lead for good, 14-7, at the 7:14 mark when Treson Ambrose hauled in a 23-yard TD pass from Aiden Robinson between a pair of Eastbrook defenders. Marcell Sims had given MHS an 8-0 first quarter lead with a short two-yard run and conversion try. After Eastbrook came up empty on its next two possessions Maconaquah got the ball back with 1:19 left in the half and turned things over to Robinson and his buddies to close out the half. After an incompletion, a Robinson-to-Van Ness pass moved the pigskin to the 50. Robinson then carried to the 38, followed by another incompletion. He then teamed up with Sims on a 17-yarder and capped it when Tre Rader used his juggling act to haul in a nice 21-yard toss from Robinson in the corner of the endzone with :37 on the clock. The Braves were whistled for a facemask penalty on the ensuing kick and Eastbrook took over at the Mac 45. Chase Washburn recovered a fumble on a nine-yard loss on the next play as big DaKoda Dauenhauer jarred the ball loose. With 18 ticks remaining and the ball resting on the Panther 46, Robinson hit Sims with a short five-yarder and then found Van Ness on the receiving end of a 41-yard TD with just five seconds left, 28-7. Third quarter action saw Maconaquah sandwich Eastbrook's next score with a Robinson three-yard TD run and a 43-yard TD pass to Rader. Sims ran in both two-point conversions for a MHS lead of 44-14 with 3:28 left in the quareter. The Braves took possession again with 2:29 showing when Eastbrook came up empty on a fourth down pass attempt that injured Panther Justyn Schuh as he tumbled to the ground after trying to make the catch. The stadium became eerily silent during the lengthy delay as team trainers and emergency personnel attended to him. After both team's starters huddled at midfield in prayer, Schuh was carted off the field and transported to the hospital for further evaluation. Mac's lead ballooned to 52-14 with 20 seconds left in the period when Nolan Tarrh hauled in a 60-yard Robinson pass in stride on a third-and-four call. Sims would tack on the Braves final points with his fifth conversion run of the game . . . breaking the school record set by Jeremy Fewell when he ran in four conversions vs Taylor in 2004. A running clock was used the remainder of the game under the IHSAA "Mercy Rule" with Maconaquah's large lead. Eastbrook would score on the final play of the game to show the final: MHS 52 Eastbrook 20. The Braves posted 470 yards of total offense with Robinson hitting on 22 of 36 passes for 329 yards and five TD's. Leading receivers were: Sims (10-89), Rader (3-76), Van Ness (6-74) and Tarrh (2-67). Ambrose had one 23-yard TD catch. Sims lead the Mac rushing attack with 129 yards on 15 carries, getting 95 of them in the decisive first half. Blake led Mac's swarming defense with 13 tackles. Others getting in on the fun were: Jayden Fitzpatrick (10), Eli Grzegorski (8), Washburn (7) followed by Sims and Dauenhauer with 6 stops apiece. Dauenhauer was credited with two tackles for loss. Maconaquah won the first down battle, 22-12 and controlled the clock ... having possession 26:16 while the Panthers had the ball for 21:44. Third down conversions: MHS 3-9 EB 5-9. Penalties: MHS 6-49 EB 5-41. * * * SIDELINE NOTES *** > > Maconaquah now leads the all-time series with Eastbrook . . . winning 12 of 22 games played > > The Braves were ranked #9 in the final USA/Today regular season poll and #10 in the IFCA poll > > 52 points is the most points scored by MHS vs Eastbrook, wiping out the old mark (51) set in 1979 > > 52 points is the second-most scored in a tournament game in school history (55 vs Northwestern 2023) > > MHS is now one of four unbeaten teams remaining in Class 3A (Andrean, Evans. Memorial & Indian Creek) > > Mac's current 10-game win streak is the second-longest in school history > > Robinson who entered the game as the state's leader in passing yardage and TD passes has now thrown for 3334 yards on the year and has 46 TD passes . . . breaking his old mark of 42 set in 2024 > > Robinson has now thrown 157 consecutive passes without an interception . . . eclipsing the old mark of 147 he set two years ago > > Robinson's 329 passing yards is the most-ever by a Brave during a tournament game . . . breaking the previous record (319) he set vs Peru in 2024 > > Tarrh now has caught 75 passes this year . . . ranking #4 all-time for most receptions in a season > > Tarrh's TD catch gives him 350 career points . . . moving him past Fuddy Kile into third place on Mac's career scoring list. Sims is the Braves' all-time scoring leader . . . he currently has 470 points > > Let's have a great crowd at West Lafayette like we did two years ago. They don't have much visitor seating and many of our fans had to sit on their side. GO BRAVES!!!