Maconaquah Schools

The undefeated Maconaquah Braves used the five touchdown effort of Marcell Sims and a pair of key fourth quarter interceptions by Camron Metcalf and Nolan Tarrh to bounce Northwestern, 42-28, Friday evening and spoil the Tigers' homecoming in a high-scoring Three Rivers Conference battle. Ranked No. 6 in the latest Class 3A AP poll, Coach Michael Fenters defending conference champions remained unbeaten on the year at 6-0 and stayed atop the TRC standings with Rochester, both with 5-0 league marks after the Zebras whitewashed Peru, 50-0, Friday night. Northwestern dropped to 3-3 overall and fell to 3-2 in the TRC. In a game featuring Maconaquah's Aiden Robinson and Northwestern's Colin Cook, the league's top two quarterbacks, plenty of offensive fireworks were expected and both signal-callers delivered, combining for 445 passing yards. But it was the masterful running of Sims and the two thefts by Metcalf and Tarrh that sealed the Tigers fate at the end. Carsten Hollars' two-yard TD plunge along with Tarrh's PAT kick got Mac off to a quick 7-0 lead on its opening drive. A pair of Robinson-to-Tarrh passes on the Brave's first two plays netted 48 yards . . . moving MHS to the Tiger 13 and seeing Robinson surpass the 5,000 yard mark in his career. He finished the game with 259 yards on 21 of 28 firing and now has 5,250 yards passing in a Brave uniform. Robinson's only touchdown pass of the game, a 19-yarder to Sims with 6:40 left in the opening period gave the Braves a 14-0 lead after Tarrh connected on the second of his six perfect PAT boots. Sims would go on to score Mac's next four touchdowns. . . a pair of two yard TD runs, a 52-yard burst and a six-yarder that put on the finishing touches, 42-28, with three minutes left in the contest. With Mac's offensive line opening gaping holes throughout the game, Sims finished with a game-high 187 yards on 22 carries and becomes the first player in MHS history to have three games of five touchdowns in a career. The Tigers roared back after trailing, 14-0, and delighted the home crowd with three straight scoring drives to grab a 21-14 lead with 8:32 left in the first half. Maconaquah knotted things at 21-all at the 1:10 mark when Sims plowed his way in from two yards out, set up a play earlier when Jorden VanNess hauled in a dandy over-the-head 36-yard aerial from Robinson. Third quarter action saw both teams trade two-yard TD runs and Mac clinging to a 28-21 lead with 2:11 on the clock. It took only 60 ticks and three plays for the Braves to take the lead for good, 35-28, when Sims took a handoff and tight-roped 52 yards to paydirt down Maconquah's sidelines. Trailing 35-28 and looking to tie the score, Northwestern put together a 16-play drive that reached the MHS 11-yard line after converting a big fourth-and-three situation. After a stop for no gain on the Tiger's next play, Metcalf stepped in front of a Cook pass and returned it to the Maconaquah 24, setting up the Brave's final scoring drive. Mac used five runs by Sims, a pass to Sims and four passes to Tarrh to take command, 42-28, using five minutes of precious clock. After Tarrh intercepted Cook's 29th pass attempt of the game the Braves had one final possession with 2:17 remaining. After a penalty negated an apparent 43-yard TD pass from Robinson-to-Alexzander Martin the Braves were content to run out the clock and chalk up another win. Unofficially, Hollars and Tarrh led Brave tacklers with 14 stops apiece, followed by Joe Butcher (10), Metcalf (10), Sims (9) and Landon Morgan (8). Getting in on six tackles were Chase Washburn and Gibson "Gibby" Daily. > > > SIDELINE NOTES > > > . . . . The win was the 15th straight regular season win . . . a school record . . . . The win was the 13th straight Three Rivers Conference win . . . . a school record . . . . The win tied a school record for most consecutive wins on the road. The Braves have now won seven straight games on the road . . . and shares the record with the 1973 and 1974 MHS teams that strung together seven wins away from home . . . . Sims now has 1919 career rushing yards and moved past Vernon Robinson, Jim Ridenour and Dominic Brogan into seventh place on the all-time rushing list . . . . Maconaquah now leads the all-time series with Northwestern, 34-24 . . . . Hollars continues to move up the MHS career tackle list. The senior linebacker passed Aaron Overman and Ty Roseberry and currently sits in third place all-time with 266 tackles . . . . Sims now has 252 career points . . . No. 5 all-time scoring at Maconaquah . . . . Tarrh's six PAT kicks moved him past Phillip Garnett into a tie with Jared Blake at No. 7 on the career scoring list with 182 points . . . . The Braves will return to TRC action Friday night when neighboring Lewis Cass travels to MHS