Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SOUTH WHITLEY - Friday night's football game appeared as if the Whitko Wildcats were playing as a whole new team.
With several players out, many changes were made. This was exactly what Rochester wanted.
The No. 6 (3A) Rochester Zebras ran over the Wildcats in all aspects of the game, pounding them 41-6 to improve to 7-1 overall and 6-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. Whitko fell to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in the TRC.
"We were limited offensively with some players out with injuries and others out for good," Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger said.
When Sprunger said players were out for good, he was referring to Adam Wendel (junior starting quarterback), Anthony Clausen (junior starting wingback) and Brent Goble (junior starting wingback), who broke the Whitko High School Athletic Code. They each were suspended for the remainder of this season and half of one sport next season.
"I didn't sleep much Wednesday night as I tried to make the necessary changes in my head. Eighteen years of experience was what I relied on. With only one day of practice with the new player changes, we weren't ready. We just need more time," Sprunger said.
The Wildcats had good field position handed to them in the first quarter. After Rochester started the game poorly, they were forced to punt the ball. With a bad snap, the punter was sacked at the 10-yard line. Then with illegal motion called, it was Whitko's ball on its own 5-yard line. After failing to score on four tries, Whitko turned the ball over on downs.
"We couldn't capitalize on our field position. That's not an excuse, though. They had much better speed than us defensively," Sprunger said.
Whitko's lone score came from starting quarterback, James Miller. Miller ran the ball one yard with 15 seconds left to go in the game to assure that the Wildcats would not be shut out.
Whitko (2-6, 2-4 TRC) hosts Three Rivers Conference nemesis Tippecanoe Valley (4-4, 3-3 TRC).
No. 6 (3A) ROCHESTER 41 WHITKO 6
Rochester 7 14 13 7 41
Whitko 0 0 0 6 6
W R
First downs 12 12
Rushing yards 47-118 32-199
Passing yards 29 188
Comp.-Att.-Int. 3-9-0 10-11-0
Total offense 147 387
Fumbles lost 4-2 4-0
Punts/avg. 1-26 0-0
Penalties/yards 6-15 8-75
First Quarter
R -ÊDeric Beck 48 pass from Kevin Clark (Jason Fincher kick good), 3:20, 7-0
Second Quarter
R -ÊClark 12 run (kick good), 10:46, 14-0
R - Beck 10 pass from Clark (kick good), 2:15, 21-0
Third Quarter
R - Dustin Burkett 27 run (kick failed), 7:13, 27-0
R -ÊBurkett 3 run (kick good), 3:21, 34-0
Fourth Quarter
R - Adam Frounfelter 77 run (kick good), 3:51, 41-0
W - James Miller 1 run (kick failed), :15, 41-6
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Passing -ÊWhitko: Miller 3-9-0 29. Rochester: Clark 10-11-0 188.
Rushing and receiving leaders were not available.
