INDIANAPOLIS
Nothing Roncalli’s Collin Ash does surprises fellow junior Zach Dozier
“Collin is a playmaker,” Dozier said. “That kid is special.”
Ash ran for four touchdowns and passed for another Friday night to lead the Royals to a 38-23 victory over Class 3A No. 4 Guerin Catholic in Circle City Conference action.
Ash, who had touchdown runs of 7, 31, 6 and and 3 yards, finished with 15 carries for 73 yards and completed 18 of 23 passes for 220 yards. Dozier led the Royals (2-2, 1-1) with 135 yards on 18 carries.
“I liked the running game,” Roncalli coach Sam Otley said. “We made strides. That was a big emphasis from last week, re-establishing ourselves at the line of scrimmage, and we have great guys leading the way. Collin Ash plays hard and is a great leader. Zach Dozier is really coming into his own. The offensive line played with a chip on their shoulder; they had something to prove. We still have some things we want to improve to enforce the line of scrimmage, but we took a step forward.”
The Golden Eagles (3-2, 0-2) grabbed an 8-0 lead with Malcolm Houze’s 7-yard touchdown run and conversion run by Hayden Cler with 4:12 remaining in the first quarter. The Royals cut the lead to 8-7 on a 31-yard TD pass from Ash to Alex Toth with 1:30 left in the first quarter and then took the lead for good at 10-8 on Gavin Louthain’s field goal with 9:55 left in the half. The game was delayed by lightning with 5:49 left in the second quarter. The delay took one hour and 51 minutes.
“It really started in the locker room; we were keeping the vibe up,” Dozier said of the long delay. “Our energy was up.”
The first play after the lightning delay was an Ash pass that was intercepted at the Guerin 10.
“That third down throw, we were a little overeager,” Otley said. “But we came out fired up and were able to maintain that momentum we had before the delay. They wanted to get out and play football. It was a fun environment.”
The Royals shook off the turnover and eventually pushed the lead to 17-8 with 1:12 left in the second quarter.
Roncalli expanded the lead to 38-8 before the Golden Eagles got the final two scores with the Royals substituting freely. Houze’s 58-yard TD pass to Aidan Horn and a Houze’s conversion run made it 38-16. Houze then got the final score on a 5-yard score with 54 seconds left.
Houze completed 26 of 48 passes for 231 yards. Guerin was held to 80 rushing yards.
“I’m still pleased with our defense,” Otley said. “It’s a credit to our coaches and the kids’ attitudes. We were able to get a lot of guys in tonight. It was a good night for Roncalli.”
Dozier said it was the Royals’ best performance.
“Coach Otley always preaches that our efforts will always show on Friday night depending on how much we give in the week’s practices,” Dozier said. “He always says every rep in practice is for Friday night and I think that showed tonight, offense and defense. My O-linemen, I love them all.”
