FOOTBALL: North Farmington silences Rochester on Hall of Fame night
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
ROCHESTER HILLS — Rochester High inducted its most stellar class to date into the school’s Hall of Fame Friday night.
While Rochester paid tribute to its fine past and several successful alumni, North Farmington enjoyed the invite to the festivities, The Raiders never trailed, eventually rolling to a convincing 24-7 OAA White Division victory over the youthful Falcons.
“We responded well. We got over here late and Rochester was nice enough to let us warm up a little late,” said North Farmington coach Todd Shultz. “Rochester drove on us right away, but we responded well. Our defense and special teams played well after that point.”
Rochester’s Chris Ross opened the game with an 80-yard kickoff return down to the Raiders’ 15. North Farmington eventually stopped Rochester’s fake field goal attempt five plays later, as the drive stalled at the 6-yard line.
The Raiders gained back the momentum and slowly built a 10-0 halftime lead. By late in the third quarter, North Farmington continued to take advantage of the Falcons’ miscues for a 24-0 edge.
“I thought we did a much better job in the second and third quarters,” said Schultz. “We were able to have a couple of nice drives and we were able to recover the fumble in the end zone. We took advantage of our (opportunities). But we need to continue to do that. It is going to get a lot tougher. We have Southfield next week and a very challenging league schedule coming up.”
North Farmington (2-1, 1-1) scored first when Mason Cornell ended 15-play, 68-yard drive with a 4-yard run with 7:21 left in the second quarter.
Nathan Loussia, who nailed three extra points in the contest, booted a 30-yard field goal just before half for the 10-point halftime advantage.
Mher Tcholakian picked up a fumble by his own teammate and snuck into the end zone from 1-yard out for 17-0 lead early in the third quarter. Chris Nader later recovered a Rochester fumble in the end zone to cap the Raiders’ scoring with 5:23 still remaining in the third stanza.
Rochester, which struggled to even move the football in being shut out by both Lapeer and Farmington Harrison.The Falcons have been outscored 102-7 through three weeks.
“We moved the football a lot better than we did the first two weeks, but we are still making far too many costly mistakes,” admitted Rochester coach Erik Vernon. “We got inside the 10 three times and struggled (to convert) except the late TD. We fumbled the ball in our own end zone. We missed some blocking assignments, dropped a lot of passes. We have to go out there and coach them up. We have got to keep working and get better.”
Rochester spoiled the shutout with 1:20 to ply in the third quarter, when Ross scampered home from 8 yards out. The Falcons got into the red zone one other time in the fourth frame but failed to find pay dirt once again.
Cornell put together a blue-collar effort which included 30 carries for 171 yards. Kyle Penny was 7-for-14 passing for 103 yards and Sasoun Tcholakian had three catches for 54 yards for North Farmington.
Justin Alexander was 9-for-19 passing for 153 yards for Rochester, while Blake Fetterhoff had 66 rushing yards and 47 receiving yards for the Falcons
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