Maconaquah Schools

The Maconaquah Braves "Next Man Up" Friday night was junior scatback Conner Eldridge. Filling in for injured Marcell Sims, the 5-5, 140-pound slippery running back had a career night in leading the unbeaten Braves to a 43-14 Sectional 27 IHSAA semi-final win over the Twin Lakes Indians. The lopsided victory sends MHS, now 11-0, to West Lafayette Friday night in search of its first sectional championship in school history. West Lafayette defeated Northwestern, 42-14, to advance to the title bout. It is the fifth time Maconaquah has made it to the championship game, including the first time ... at West Lafayette in 1987, Other title game appearances came in 1998, 1999 and 2018. "I'm super proud of the kids," said first-year MHS coach Michael Fenters, noting that other players have had to step up throughout the season with injuries to Aiden Robinson, Brady Dausch and Sims along the way. Eldridge said he found out Wednesday that he would be starting and "stepping up to take Marcell's role. That's some big shoes to fill," he continued. Sims was Mac's leading rusher, second-leading scorer and was its third-leading tackler. Eldridge fueled the Braves to a 30-7 halftime lead with 110 yards on nine carries. He finished with a career-high 159 yards on 17 totes. He scored the Braves first touchdown (16 yards) and capped off his night with a 40 yard interception return that set up Mac's final score of the evening. "I never had a doubt... the nerves were there, but everyone gave me confidence, including my coaches. I couldn't have done what I did without my offensive line." Eldridge's previous high game rushing was 78 yards vs Wabash. Twin Lakes took the opening kick and moved downfield before a pair of Austin Ringeisen qb sacks forced the visitors to punt. Starting at its own seven, Robinson completed seven of his first eight passes moving Mac to the Indian five yard line. The Braves settled for a Max Sachse 22-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead heading into the second period. Maconaquah's pesky defense then took over and propelled the hosts to a 30-7 lead at intermission. After another Twin Lakes punt, Eldridge got three first downs and the 16-yard TD to open the second quarter. Sachse's PAT kick made it 10-0 with 11:04 showing. A diving interception by soph Nolan Tarrh on Twin Lakes' next offensive play put Mac back in business at the Indian 43. It took only eight seconds for Mac to light up the scoreboard again as AJ Kelly turned on the jets down the TL sidelines and hauled in a dandy 43-yard TD strike from Robinson, 16-0. Kelly led the Braves balanced receiving corps with 99 yards on seven catches. Tarrh followed with 76 yards on seven grabs, while Fuddy Kile nabbed eight passes for 69 yards. Twin Lakes became the first team this year to score in the second quarter against the Braves and trimmed its deficit to 16-7 with 7:15 left in the half on a short four-yard TD pass. Mac has now outscored its opponents, 191-7, in the second period through 11 games. Kelly returned the ensuing kick to his own 23 and the Braves went back to work with Robinson hitting Kile with passes of 13, 6 and 22 yards. Eldridge added runs of seven and 19 yards and MHS took a 23-7 lead at 4:06 when Robinson connected with Tarrh from 10 yards out. Maconaquah's defense came up big once again in the final minute when senior Gabe Jenkins tipped a TL pass into the arms of Kelly who sprinted 70 yards to paydirt with the 15th interception of his career. Mac's defense got two more thefts in the second half and limited Indian quarterback Cooper Dold to a season-low 166 yards, 78 yards below his average. The Braves took the second half kickoff and marched 80 yards for a 37-7 lead when the soph duo of Robinson-to-Tarrh teamed up for a 26-yard TD toss at the 8:22 mark. Eldridge's seven yard burst on fourth-and-three set up the score on the previous play. Both of Twin Lakes possessions in the third act were halted by Tarrh and Eldridge interceptions. Eldridge's 40-yard return gave Mac excellent field possession at the TL 27 with 2:22 left in the third period. Robinson's one-yard TD pass to Tarrh seven plays later shoved Mac's lead to 43-7 and the final 11:46 was played with the "Mercy Rule" running clock. The Indians scored in the final minute and went packing with the 43-14 setback. Carsten Hollars led the Braves with eight tackles. Kelly had six stops to go along with four each from Dakoda Dauenhauer and Sachse. Getting three apiece were: Kile, Landon Morgan, Ryley Rodkey, Ringeisen and Nate Rader. Getting qb sacks were Ringeisen (2) and Jakob Grant (1). Sideline Notes > > > The win was the 10th straight win at HOME for the Braves > > > Robinson completed 23 of 32 passes for 241 yards and four TD's and has now thrown 39 touchdown passes this year, breaking Braxton's Birner's season record set last year > > > Robinson's school-record 148 consecutive passes without an interception came to an end when his final pass in the first half was picked off > > > Robinson jumped past Clark Chambers into third place on Mac's career passing list with 2,899 yards > > > Tarrh became the 21st player in school history to reach 100 points in a career. His big night moves him into 17th place on the all-time MHS scoring list with 114 points > > > Kile became the fifth player in STATE history to surpass 4,000 yards receiving. He now has 4,023 yards heading into the championship game > > > Kelly's 70-yard interception is the eighth longest in MHS history and ties the school record for most interceptions in a season (2) and career (2) > > > It was the first-ever meeting between MHS and Twin Lakes, which finished the year at 5-6