ROCHESTER — All it takes is four words by Maddox Rodgers to his coaching staff on the Rochester High School football team’s sideline.
It’s a calm tone, but one with certainty of the end result. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to diagnose what the Warriors would do next.
“Anytime a team tries to build a little momentum, he’ll walk by me on the sidelines and be like ‘Give me the ball,’” their head coach AJ Easley said. “When things get tough, he gets better.”
How confident was Mr. Rodgers?
“Oh I’m confident,” he said.
Straight to the point. And straight to the end zone.
Rodgers dashed 28 yards to put a capper on a first half onslaught that pushed Rochester towards a dominant 57-18 triumph over Rainier on Friday night at home. It marks the first time since the 1999 season, per Easley, the program started 4-0.
A group that had question marks coming in has provided an answer every step of the way. The Warriors have won by close margins and blowouts due to a palpable belief in themselves.
“They keep getting better,” Easley said. “It is a new challenge. You still got to perform and do your job. I think they can go as far as they want.”
For the fourth straight week, Rodgers was the Warriors leading rusher and he’s now over 1,000 rushing yards plus 12 TDs. He finished the evening with 175 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns.
Although a 30-0 cushion was built up with under 10 minutes left in the first half for Rochester, the final destination was not Blowout City.
Rainier went to the air with freshman quarterback Ryan O’Neal and he connected on touchdown passes to Jacob Hanson (52 yards) and Zander Bartell (39 yards) to make it a respectable 18-point cushion.
In between the scores was an interception by Michael Gerard near Rainier’s own 20-yard line.
“We moved Hanson to that wide spot out of our heavy set, and we knew his speed would be a difference maker, so we wanted to see what that looked like anyways,” Mountaineers head coach Andy Bartell said. “It blew up for us in a good way.”
Rodgers provided the needed answer with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left in the opening half to make it a four-score game again. From there, Rochester outscored Rainier 21-6 in the final two quarters.
“The two mistakes were small, but the touchdown was definitely needed,” Rodgers said.
There was balance in the ground game with Owen Simpkins and Kaiser Tartios and it was evident from the first possession. Each of the three Warrior ball carriers got a touch, ending with Simpkins’ 54-yard dart.
After Tyson Canales recovered the onside kick, Rodgers took a fourth down carry up the gut from 38 yards out. Simpkins scored again from 31 yards out to close the opening frame.
“It has been a work in progress,” Easley said of the backfield rotation. “We wanted to try and start fast. I didn’t intend for it to be that quick, but pretty ideal.”
Tartios scored from 25, 52 and 38 yards away. He finished with 125 yards while Simpkins chipped in 120; both of them had eight carries. More than anything, Easley gave the offensive line their flowers.
Cody Galpin, Connor Patrick, Peter Hayden, Tanner Eaton, Wyatt Richardson plus tight ends Josh Long and Buell Benner all created holes through each gap for the rushing attack to end with 457 yards.
“What’s crazy is every week I feel like they’ve played their best game,” Easley said. “They love it. A lot of schools fight to get offensive linemen, but our guys love it.”
Rainier turned the ball over on downs four times and struggled in the ground game. O’Neal had success on play action and rollout passes, going well over 100 passing yards on the night. Still, Bartell couldn’t fault the effort.
Now at 2-2 heading into its C2BL East opener versus Mossyrock next week, the Mountaineers feel a lot better this fall compared to last.
“It is a huge success,” Bartell said. “We’re in a better spot and we carry more confidence.”
Rochester opens 1A Evergreen League play versus Hoquiam next week. Rodgers has had the feeling this group can do something special since fall camp commenced last month.
Through four weeks, he isn’t wavering.
“This is the year to go all the way. It is the expectation,” Rodgers said.
