Roncalli football crushes Bloomington North

For the Daily Journal

INDIANAPOLIS

A halftime chat helped the Roncalli football team to take flight.

“We went back to the locker room and we were already up, but we were like, we’ve just got to keep pounding them and get better,” junior receiver Kyle Lockard said. “Coach talked about not hitting a plateau. We’ve got to keep going. We can’t be satisfied where we are. We just took off.”

Class 4A No. 5 Roncalli turned a 20-14 halftime lead into a 63-21 rout of visiting Bloomington North Saturday night. The second-half explosion put Roncalli just one point shy of its single-game record of 64 points, set against Manual in 2000.

Junior quarterback Aidan Leffler tied his career high with four touchdowns for Roncalli (5-1).

Lockard caught two of those TD passes for 56 and 5 yards from Leffler in the second half. Lockard’s second TD was his 68th career catch, breaking 2018 graduate Jacob Luedeman’s school record of 67. Lockard finished with four catches for 74 yards.

Leffler completed 13 of 16 passes for 193 yards, with his other two TD passes going to junior Michael Gallagher (32 yards) and junior Caden Gore (12 yards).

“He’s continuing to get better and that’s what I want see out of him,” Roncalli coach John Rodenberg said. “As long as he keeps progressing, I think that just makes our attack that much more dangerous. Obviously, people know we can run the football. Once people know we can throw the football, they’re not going to be able to put eight in a box on us. When you can’t play eight in the box, that Baron (Huebler) is a dangerous guy.”

Huebler, a senior running back, gained 182 yards on 19 carries, doing most of that damage in the second half. Huebler contributed a 1-yard TD run. Leffler had a pair of touchdown runs on 1-yard sneaks.

“The offense was clicking on all cylinders; we had guys making plays,” Leffler said. “Baron had a huge game. Every single player on the line was good. The passing game opened things up for Baron. It’s a two-way attack. If one is not working, go to the other that’s going to work.”

Rodenberg said the Cougars played a different defense than expected early in the game.

“They caught us off guard a little bit in the first half, once we adjusted we were OK,” Rodenberg said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for their quarterback and tight end. They’re a good club. We just caught fire and we hit it.”

Roncalli had some miscues in the first half, including some fumbled snaps.

“We were missing two offensive linemen and had some new guys playing,” Rodenberg said. “We had to clean things up. That’s no excuse; we have to keep getting better.”

The Cougars (3-3) took a 7-0 lead after the first quarter on quarterback Reece Lozano’s 3-yard touchdown run. The Cougars regained the lead a final time at 14-13 when Lozano threw a backward pass to Aidan Steinfeldt, who found a wide-open Aristotle Vasquez for a 34-yard TD with 4:55 left in the second quarter.

“It was a rough start but we just kept playing,” Huebler said. “Aidan played a heck of a game tonight. It definitely opened up the run game and we were able to do both. We did it really well tonight.”

Roncalli scored two more touchdowns with the reserves in the fourth quarter, as Gore came in at quarterback and threw a 12-yard TD pass to Cole Beckman and Luke Hansen scored on an 8-yard run.

Gallagher contributed five catches for 49 yards and one rush for 11 yards.

“Gallagher had good game,” Rodenberg said. “He’s going to be key down the pike. If people are going to key on Baron, Gallagher can do what he has to do.”