Four Three Rivers Conference high school football games were played at the RCA Dome Saturday, but all were the same in one way.

All were blowouts.

Southwood 63, North Miami 6. Tippecanoe Valley 35, Oak Hill 0. Whitko 32, Northfield 6. Rochester 41, Manchester 7.

The team that scored first won every game.

"I didn't see all the games, but it seems to me, the team that gets off to a good start feels comfortable (here) right away," Manchester coach Al Bailey said. "They gained momentum and took off."

Whitko 32, Northfield 6

Whitko's offense rolled up 337 rushing years, and Whitko's defense shut down Northfield on -6 yards in the second half as the Wildcats reached .500.

Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger has said one good way to beat Whitko is to stop Jimmy Linn.

Northfield couldn't contain, let alone stop, the halfback. Linn rushed for 179 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns - in three quarters.

Oh, Linn played 39 seconds in the fourth, just long enough to catch a 28-yard touchdown pass from Ben Mohr. That score put Whitko up 32-6, and Sprunger played his reserves the final 11 minutes.

Sprunger credited his offensive line for springing Linn free for big runs.

"You have to have the horses up front to make the ponies go," Sprunger said.

Sprunger has also talked much this year about the key big plays that Whitko gives up. They are why the Wildcats entered the Northfield game with a disappointing 2-3 record.

Key mistakes hurt Whitko again, especially in the first half.

Whitko led 14-6 at halftime, but the Wildcats could have put the game away and been up 35-0. Two times the Wildcats fumbled at Northfield's 3-yard line. Another time Whitko inadvertently botched a punt return, giving Northfield the ball at Whitko's 17-yard line. The Norsemen scored on that drive after the Wildcats helped them out with a pass interference on third down at the 14-yard line.

Another Whitko drive stalled when the referees threw the yellow flag at the Wildcats for illegal procedure. The Wildcats were at Northfield's 12-yard line in the last minute of the first half.

When halftime arrived, the Wildcats had 265 yards to Northfield's 107 but led by only eight.

"Again, we're our own worst enemy at times," Sprunger said. "But we're coming. I thought the kids stayed after it better than they had in the past."

To Sprunger's relief, his team handled prosperity much better in the second half.

Northfield opened the half by going three and out and high-snapping a punt, giving Whitko the ball at Northfield's 11-yard line. This set up a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Keith Starkweather that put Whitko up 20-6.

Starkweather rushed for 49 yards on 14 carries. If the Wildcats were close to scoring, they gave him the ball. He rushed for three touchdowns. His two short touchdown runs in the first half gave Whitko a 14-0 lead with nine minutes left in the second quarter.

Linn put Whitko up 26-6 with four minutes left in the third quarter when he scored on an 8-yard run.

Northfield never managed to put together anything that even closely resembled a threat in the second half. The Norse usually went three and out, letting Whitko's offense back on the field to run the clock out. Whitko quarterbacks just handed the ball off and let the Wildcat backs run over and through Northfield's defense. Whitko's offense had 32 plays the second half, while Northfield had 14.

When the Norsemen tried to run the football, they couldn't. They carried the ball 11 times for -6 yards.

When the Norsemen tried to throw the football, they couldn't. They passed the ball four times and completed none.

Whitko sacked Northfield quarterbacks four times in the second half. Linn got the second one and knocked Northfield starter Brian Hoffman out of the game early in the third quarter. Michael Kaltenmark replaced Hoffman and was sacked twice.

"We've been preaching about playing hard for four quarters and not taking breaks, not taking time off," Sprunger said. "I thought we played hard the whole game."

Whitko, 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the TRC, is at North Miami on Friday.

"Once we get over making the mistakes," Sprunger said. "We're going to be pretty good, I think."

Northfield dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-4 in the TRC.

"This is quite a treat for the kids," Sprunger said. "It's a great opportunity, and we're glad we came. We got every kid who dressed in for five or 10 plays. It's something they can remember for the rest of their lives.

"We hope to do it again sometime."

Rochester 41, Manchester 7

The Rochester Zebras showed why they are the class of the TRC by smashing Manchester 41-7.

"(Rochester) was no surprise," Bailey said. "They're that good, and we're not as bad as we looked."

The Zebras dominated so much their reserves played with more than a minute to go in the third quarter. And with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter, they used backups for the backups. Rochester coach Mark Miller ran players out there whose names weren't even listed in the program.

The first three times the Zebra offense touched the ball, they scored.

Coaches like to talk about winning football games by dominating the line of scrimmage, and that's what the Zebras did. They racked up 213 yards to Manchester's 47 in the opening half.

With guys like 6-foot-3, 296-pound senior tackle Ben Brubaker and 6-1, 271-pound Ted Brown, the Zebra line pushed the Squires around.

The Zebra offensive line opened craters for their backs to run through, and that's what halfback Jeremy Swank and fullback Bret Henderson did. They took turns receiving handoffs from Clark and did the rest.

"They're a lot stronger than I thought they were," Bailey said. "They're probably the strongest team we have faced."

Swank rushed for 51 yards on 13 carries and scored a touchdown in the first half. Henderson rushed for 58 yards on nine carries and scored two touchdowns in the first half. All told, the Zebras ran for 116 yards on 25 carries in the first half.

And as soon as the Zebras lulled the Squires to sleep by hammering the football at them with those two, they threw in a play-action pass to catch them offguard. Clark completed four passes for 97 yards in the first half.

The Zebras put together first-half touchdown drives of 11 plays, 2 plays, 13 plays and 10 plays.

A 33-yard play-action pass from Clark to Deric Beck on Rochester's first offensive series set up the Zebras' first touchdown, a 1-yard run by Henderson at the 7:06 mark in the first quarter that made it 7-0.

Manchester went three and out, and then Brian Jimenez returned the Squires' punt 32 yards to Manchester's 13-yard line. Two plays later, Henderson scored on a 10-yard run to make it 14-0 with 4:37 left in the opening quarter.

Again the Squires went three and out. Rochester responded with its 13-play drive, the biggest play a 15-yard ramble by Henderson, to go up 21-0 with 8:47 left in the second quarter.

After the Zebras recovered a fumble at Manchester's 21-yard line, Rochester went up 28-0 when Clark connected with tight end Bob Prater on a 21-yard touchdown pass.

Down 28-0, Manchester quarterback Rex Reimer sat back in the shotgun formation the second half as the Squires threw and threw some more to try to move the ball for quick points. Reimer threw 19 times the second half and completed 10 of them. His 32-yard pass to wide receiver Michael Hendrix set up their lone score, a 1-yard run by halfback David Barrett with 1:02 left in the third quarter that made it 41-7.

Manchester, 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the TRC, is at Southwood on Friday. Rochester is 5-0 and 4-0 in the TRC.

"We seemed to be overwhelmed at times, as much as by the environment and the Rochester team," Bailey said. "They were confident and felt comfortable here. I'm not sure we ever got to that point."

Rochester is 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the TRC. [[In-content Ad]]