FOOTBALL: Rochester downs Berkley to claim first league title in 27 years
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
BERKLEY — It’s only fitting that rain showers moved across the Metro Detroit area on Friday afternoon. By Friday evening, Rochester had ended one seriously long drought.
The Falcons clinched their first league title in 27 years by topping host Berkley, 33-7, at Hurley Stadium.
Rochester captured the Oakland Activities Association Blue Division title at 6-0 and win their first league crown since 1993. That last title came in the old Metro Suburban Activities Association in its final year before the creation of the OAA mega conference.
That 1993 campaign was also the last time Rochester finished the regular season unbeaten. The Falcons were 9-0 in both 1988 and 1993 and this year are 6-0 in the shortened season due to the COVID shutdown that didn’t allow games to be contested in Michigan until the weekend of Sept. 17-19.
“It’s been a long, long time,” beamed Rochester coach Erik Vernon, whose team went from 1-8 last season to a perfect 6-0 this regular season.
“I’m proud of these kids. I’m proud of the parents. The parents put a lot of trust in us as coaches to take care of the kids,” continued Vernon. “It’s such a strange year, and I’m very thankful for the parents putting the trust in the coaches to do it, and the kids following the things they’re supposed to do and just playing hard and doing great.”
Unbeaten Rochester — which has outscored its opposition 267-59 with two shutouts and all opponents have scored 20 points or less — limited Berkley to only 144 yards of total offense, including minus-3 yards in the second half, and picked up four interceptions. The Bears scored their only points in the first minute of the game.
The Falcons (6-0, 6-0) trailed Berkley 7-0 in the opening quarter before taking over the line of scrimmage and sending the Bears back to their den to lick their wounds.
Rochester sophomore quarterback Alex Bueno struggled in the swirling wind, finishing only an uncharacteristic 4-for-18 passing for 164 yards — the Falcons did drop six wide-open passes in the contest — to go along with three touchdown passes and an interception.
Rochester used 11 different ball carriers in the win, led by junior Jeff Hawkins’ 10 carries for 89 yards. Senior Andrew Koss added 14 carries for 55 yards, and Bueno had two rushes for 41 yards.
In total, Rochester amassed 244 rushing yards on 48 carries. Rochester’s offensive line, led by Noah Howes and Nick Terenzi, dominated the Bears, as the Falcons had possession of the football for long stretches in the game.
“(The line) lined up. We said it was going to be one of those games that we just have to hammer it out,” said Vernon. “We left some plays on the field with some dropped passes that we haven’t done all year, but another aspect of our game stepped up, and they did such a great job controlling the line of scrimmage. I thought we dominated on the lines.”
A botched Rochester punt gave Berkley the ball at the Falcons’ 18. The Bears (4-2, 3-2) responded on their first play from scrimmage when senior Ian Domzalski scored on an 18-yard run up the middle for a quick 7-0 lead with 11:14 still to play in the opening quarter.
Berkley enjoyed very few rays of sunlight after that play.
Rochester cut into the deficit when Hawkins raced 46 yards for a touchdown midway through the first quarter, although the extra point was missed, leaving Berkley ahead 7-6.
Rochester went ahead for good at 13-7 on its fourth possession. This time Bueno connected with junior Preston Schroyer for a short slant pass and Schroyer escaped congestion with a 90-yard catch-and-run for another score with 1:44 left in first quarter.
In the second half, Rochester pulled away with a trio of touchdown drives.
The first was following an interception and capped by senior Xavier Spann’s 6-yard run up the middle, good for a 19-7 advantage with 8:55 left in the third.
The Falcons’ next drive was aided by a Berkley 12-men-on-the-field penalty on fourth down, and later resulted in Bueno throwing 4-yards over the top to junior Gabe Mendoza for another score and a 26-7 advantage with 14 seconds still left in the third period.
In the fourth quarter, Rochester put together a time-eating drive that lasted 12 plays for 56 yards and chewed up 6:54 off the clock. The drive ended with Bueno’s 14-yard fade pass to a wide open senior Bobby Kronner on fourth down.
Rochester forced Berkley to punt the ball away four times, halted two Berkley drives on downs, had four interceptions, and ended the final Berkley drive as time expired far from the end zone. Kronner, seniors Kavan Troy and Anthony Piccirilli, and sophomore Jaden Bolden, all had interceptions for the Falcons.
“It comes down to just we have a bunch of returning starters on offense and defense, both sides of the ball. Our line is playing a lot better. Bueno has been amazing so far this year,” said Kronner, a third-year starter. “I think coming into this year it was really just our mentality. We came into this year thinking ‘We’ve got to win out’ instead of ‘let’s win one game.’ There’s some winnable ones. We came in thinking everything was winnable. We’re just trying to continue that into the playoffs now.”
Domzalski had 14 carries for 74 yards for Berkley, but also threw an interception. Junior Zach Maurice was 7-for-15 passing for 61 yards but was picked off three times, as the Bears committed four turnovers.
“We had some injuries coming into the second half, but the power of our team is our offensive line and ball control, and for some reason we just lost that tonight. We have to do better,” offered Berkley coach Sean Shields. “(Rochester) played great. Their kids came out here, and they wanted to win the (OAA) Blue (Division) title outright. The thing with them is that we came out and we punched at them pretty hard. But they didn’t back down. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming at you.”
All Michigan teams will qualify for the postseason unless they withdraw from the field. The official pairings will be released Sunday night.
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