ROCHESTER 13, WHITKO 12

R W

First Downs 10 9

Rushes-Yards 36-203 35-164

Yards Passing 64 84

Comp-Att-Int 5-12-1 6-12-2

Total Offense 267 248

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-Yards 2-15 8-70

Punts-Avg 2-34.5 5-30.6

First Quarter

W- Keith Starkweather 19 run (Kick failed)

Third Quarter

R- Bret Henderson 16 run (Jason Fincher kick)

Fourth Quarter

R- Henderson 2 run (Kick failed)

W-Tim Mason 38 pass from Ben Mohr (Run failed)

Individual Leaders

Rushing- Rochester - Henderson 22-116, Jeremy Swank 11-73. Whitko - Starkweather 11-97, Mason 7-42.

Passing- Rochester - Kevin Clark 5-12-64, Whitko - Mohr 6-11-84.

Receiving- Rochester - Corey Wison 1-45, Whitko - Mason 1-38

SOUTH WHITLEY - Nobody expected the Whitko Wildcats to play Rochester so close. Rochester came into Friday night's game at Whitko, ranked 4th in Class 2A. They were 7-0 and 5-0 in Three Rivers Conference play, and they were averaging 38.9 points a game.

Whitko was also without all-purpose quarterback/running back Jimmy Linn. He was nursing a bad ankle and didn't even suit up. The Wildcats were also without Ray Smith who was the Times-Union defensive player of the week in week one of the season.

Whitko did have one advantage early. Emotion. Whitko came out in the first quarter and played on another level. On Rochester's first drive, Whitko forced a fumble and recovered it on the Zebras' 34 yard line. Two plays later Keith Starkweather rumbled in from 19 yards out to give Whitko the early lead. The Wildcats missed the extra point which would prove important later. The two teams would hold each other scoreless for the rest of the first half.

Early in the third quarter Rochester forced a fumble and then went to their most dangerous weapon. Rochester running back Bret Henderson came into Friday night's game having already rushed for over a 1,000 yards. Whtiko did a great job of containing him in the first half. He was held to 11 yards on 9 carries. In the third quarter he ran the ball 6 times for 80 yards, including a 16 yard TD run. A Jason Fincher kick put Rochester on top 7-6. In the fourth quarter Henderson ran it in again from 2 yards out to put the Zebras up 13-7 but the game was far from over.

Whitko never gave up. On their next possesion, the Wildcats moved the ball downfield and capped it off when Whitko QB Ben Mohr hooked up with Tim Mason on a 38 yard pass. Then came decision time. Whitko head coach Bryan Sprunger had two choices. Either send out the kicking team, go for the tie and get ready for overtime, or go for two and the win. Sprunger chose the latter. He knew that his defense probably couldn't hold Henderson and the Zebra defense anymore.

"Our defense tired in the second half," Sprunger said. "They had the ball too long. I'm guessing that their time of possesion in the second half was twice as long as ours."

Whitko couldn't convert on the two point conversion. Tim Mason was stopped at the line of scrimmage and left Rochester on top 13-12.

The Wildcats then recovered an onside kick and the hope alive that they would pull off a major upset. After two unsuccesfull plays and a holding penalty Whitko was forced to air it out on 3rd down. Mohr telegraphed his pass and Jeremy Swank picked it off. Even though Whitko lost, Sprunger was pleased with his team's perfomance.

"We showed some real character out there and we had kids step up and play hard," Sprunger said. "We can look at this game as a demoralizing loss or we can build on this game and use it as a stepping stone."

Whitko moves to 4-4 and 3-3 in the TRC. They close out the regular season at home Friday against Valley. [[In-content Ad]]