Maconaquah Schools

Maconaquah's junior varsity football team fell to the Northwestern Tigers Monday evening 12-8. The young Braves are now 3-2 on the year. Northwestern coughed up the ball on their second play to start the game and Wyatt Rorvik recovered for Maconaquah at the Tiger 43. MHS was unable to move the ball on its first two possessions and got the ball back with 3:08 left in the opening quarter after stopping Northwestern at the Mac 15. The Braves appeared to take the game's first lead three plays later when Tre Rader took a Brayden Stamper pass, broke tackles at the 35 and 50 and went 85 yards to the endzone only to have it called back to midfield on a penalty. Northwestern took a 6-0 lead on the first play of the second period on a 38-yard TD run. After Maconaquah's next possession stalled, the Braves got the ball right back when Rader swiped a Tiger pass and returned it 18 yards to his own 35. The Braves were unable to capitalize on the turnover, but got the pigskin back with 2:22 showing after NW was stopped on four plays. Starting at its own 37 the Braves put together their only scoring drive of the game. Facing a fourth-and-17 at the 31, Rader hauled in a 69-yard TD strike from Stamper. Kacen Toepfer's successful conversion run gave Mac an 8-6 lead at intermission. Elija Eldridge's fumble recovery on the ensuing kick return by the Tigers ended the half. Defense was the name of the game in the third quarter as neither team was able to score. The Tigers put the winning points on the board, taking a 12-8 lead early in the final quarter after completing a 14-play, 71-yard drive. Maconaquah's final two possessions came up empty with NW recovering Brave fumbles. Bradley Mitchell lead the Braves with nine tackles on defense. Tru Brown and Toepfer added eight and seven respectively. Bennett Thatcher and Chandler Mofield were each credited with three stops. Toepfer led Mac rushers with 52 yards on 15 carries. Rader led all receivers with a game-high 192 yards on six receptions. Stamper hit on 12 of 26 passes for 206 yards, including passes of 69, 39 and 50 yards to Rader. * * * * Maconaquah's unbeaten varsity team will host Lewis Cass on "Senior Night" Friday evening.