Each team came in hungry. Both R-P and FC football entered week three 0-2. Their Saturday college football-like matinee featured the ever-rare three interception return of TDs. The Falcons controlled the first quarter. Their initial drive went 75 yards in 10 plays. Carson Kiehne’s 4-yard TD run (plus PAT) made it 7-0. With R-P’s first offensive play, Malachi Bunke was intercepted by Falcon Jeremy O’Connor. The senior promptly returned it 29 yards to pay-dirt. Quickly, FC led 13-0. R-P then controlled the second quarter. The offense’s first possession went 55 yards in eight plays, scoring on a Bunke to Justin Ruberg 6-yard TD pass to make it 13-6. On FC’s next possession, Luke O’Hare (ye of a week previously finishing fourth at the section cross country meet), intercepted a Zach Haugerud pass. The senior returned it 40-yards for a score. The PAT again failed, leaving FC up 13-12. The Falcons then fumbled. R-P went 29 yards in six plays. A Bunke 6-yard TD run (plus conversion pass) gave R-P its first lead, 20-13. With FC’s next offensive play, Alex Ronnenberg intercepted a Haugerud pass and returned it 32-yards to the end zone! Turning the ball over on three straight offensive plays, a 13-6 FC lead became a 27-13 Trojan edge (halftime). FC regrouped in the second. Their first drive went 67 yards in seven plays, Haugerud finding Alec Sikkink on a 20-yard TD pass. FC trailed 27-20. But R-P immediately replied with a 12-play, 80-yard drive. Hadyn Kahoun’s 9-yard TD run made it 33-20 early in the fourth. R-P’s pass rush prevented a comeback. They posted six sacks. The Trojans got the win, 33-20. Bunke (15-19, 107 yards, TD, INT passing, 12-45, TD rushing), Kahoun (21-87, TD rushing), Ruberg (5-31, TD receiving), and Ronnenberg (4-43 receiving) all did work. Kobe Lind (2), Ruberg (1 ½), Carson Thompson, Tommy Ekern, and Logan Skalet (1/2) had sacks. Kiehne (6-70 receiving, 9-22, TD rushing), Sikkink (5-38 rushing, 20-yard TD catch, two sacks), and Haugerud (10-19, 129 yards, TD, 2 INTs passing) led FC. Turnovers (FC 4, R-P 2) and rushing yards (R-P over 100, FC around 50) were key. Pick-six guys O’Connor and O’Hare both ran cross country to start the year. The Trojans are 1-2. FC is 0-3.
Photo: “R-P’s Justin Ruberg out-reaches FC’s Jake Fishbaugher for a TD catch in the second quarter of the Trojans 33-20 win over the Falcons. The game was highlighted by a trio of interception returns for TDs and a 28-point Trojan second quarter.
Photo by Dawn Hauge