For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
After an uncharacteristically rough start to the season, Roncalli’s football team shook up its offensive lineup and philosophy a bit for Friday’s homecoming game against Bloomington North.
It’s tough to tell how much the moves will pay dividends long-term, but they seemed to work Friday night.
The Rebels, who entered play 1-5, distributed their rushes a little more evenly among the players. Baron Huebler carried the load in the first half, while Elijah Mahan handled the majority of the second-half carries. Those two and a stout Roncalli defense led the way in a 31-14 Rebels victory.
In addition to the running back workload, Roncalli coach Scott Marsh opted to slow down the offense for Aidan Leffler, his freshman quarterback, which seemed to settle him down. Leffler finished with just 80 passing yards but completed 8 of 11 passes, including a touchdown, and the Rebels didn’t commit a turnover.
“Time will tell, but we thought that slowing it down for (Leffler) and allowing him to take one play at a time would be best, and he played a heck of a game tonight,” Roncalli coach Scott Marsh said.
Huebler, who entered play with 127 rushing yards and a touchdown for the season, collected 102 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries this season, nine of which came in the first half. Mahan, who spent most of the first half blocking for Huebler, assumed the ball-carrying duties in the second half. He finished with 85 yards on 16 carries, and 59 of those yards came in the second half. He also caught Leffler’s touchdown pass.
“I like it because I’m able to block for him,” Mahan said of Huebler and the shared ball-carrying duties. “In the past, he’s blocked for me, so I like being able to give that back, and it gives me the chance to hit somebody pretty hard.”
The game was never seriously in doubt. Roncalli built a 14-0 lead by early in the second quarter, and extended that lead to 31-7 early in the fourth period. One of Bloomington North’s touchdowns came on a Nathan Jenkins 69-yard run in the second quarter, and the other was on Jenkins’ 94-yard kickoff return in the fourth.
The Rebel defense held the Cougars (2-5) to just 8 rushing yards aside from Jenkins’ touchdown run, and only 24 passing yards. Roncalli registered four sacks (two by Jack Wardzala) and a fumble recovery, and held Bloomington North to 1 of 8 on third-down conversions.
“We stayed simple, and the kids read their keys and played fast,” Marsh said. “Outside of last week (a 44-12 loss at Brebeuf), we’ve played pretty good defense all year.”
Roncalli hosts Bloomington South next Friday.
