The Roncalli team celebrates with student fans on Friday after their 35-21 sectional final victory overt Bishop Chatard at Roncalli High School.
SCOTT ROBERSON | DAILY JOURNAL
INDIANAPOLIS
If its quest for a repeat state championship is to be derailed, Roncalli wasn’t about to let it happen on its home field against perhaps its most bitter rival.
Stymied early, the top-ranked Royals used some big pass plays to get out in front and then used the run game to secure a 35-21 victory over No. 7 Bishop Chatard in a Class 4A sectional title game on Friday night.
The Royals (12-0), winners of 24 straight, will travel to No. 4 Mt. Vernon next week for a regional matchup.
Quarterback Aidan Leffler credited the team’s super-sized offensive line with helping Roncalli get untracked.
“They’re the best O-line in the state and, I’m arguing, the nation,” Leffler said. “I love every single one of those guys, and they work extremely hard in anything they do. I love all of them.”
Holding a 21-13 lead at the end of the third quarter, Roncalli took control with an eight-play, 66-yard drive composed entirely of running plays. Leffler finished it off from 17 yards out, breaking several tackles on his way to the end zone with 10:09 remaining in the contest.
Following a fourth-down interception by Joey Milto, the Royals iced it with a 41-yard scoring run by junior Luke Hansen, who finished the night with 172 yards rushing on 21 carries as well as 44 yards on five receptions out of the backfield.
The Trojans (7-5) ate up nearly seven minutes on their first possessions, converting three third downs to advance as far as the Roncalli 29-yard line before coming up empty when Carter St. John’s fourth-down pass was broken up.
Chatard threatened again in the second quarter, using a 26-yard throw from St. John to T.J. Ford to move into Royals territory and getting down to the 20-yard line. Once again, though, the Roncalli defense stiffened, forcing a field goal try that got pulled just wide to the left with 6:50 left in the half.
Finally, after three fruitless possessions that resulted in two punts and a failed fourth-down conversion, the Royals were able to break up the stalemate. Taking over at their own 44 with 2:55 to go in the second period, they advanced to the Chatard 22 on a 21-yard pass from Leffler to Kyle Lockard. An offside penalty by the Trojans on fourth down gave Roncalli a first and goal with 13 seconds left on the clock, and a 10-yard screen from Leffler to Hansen got the home team in the end zone.
The visitors the game up when a 38-yard pass from St. John to Ford set up a 2-yard TD run by Tommy Hannon at the 9:15 mark of the third, but the Royals needed just 61 seconds to get the lead back. After being sacked to set up third and long, Leffler went over the top to a wide-open Zach Armin for a 66-yard touchdown.
Roncalli coach John Rodenberg said that having that big-play passing ability to complement the run was critical.
“They played cover zero, they packed the box in, and if they do that you’ve got to be able to cut somebody’s throat,” he said. “If you can’t cut their throat with the pass, then you’re going to have a long night. I don’t care how big you are on the O-line.”
Another long scoring pass, a 42-yarder from Leffler to Caden Gore, made it a 21-7 game late in the third quarter. Chatard briefly got back to within eight on a quick 68-yard strike from St. John to Hammon, but Roncalli was in full command from there.
St. John threw a touchdown pass to Jack Annee with 1:35 left. The Trojans then recovered an onside kick but couldn’t get any closer.
Leffler was 10 of 16 passing for 205 yards and three scores for the Royals, whose 2020 title run included a 35-14 regional victory at Mt. Vernon.
The hope is for a similar result next Friday despite somewhat different circumstances.
“Last year we were the underdogs,” Rodenberg said. “Last year was a different scenario; we went in there with a chip on our shoulder. This year, I think it’ll be them. They’ve got a lot to prove, and we’re going to have to get ready.”
