No. 9 would be divine: Rochester seeks ninth title against Burbank St. Laurence
Here’s what to know about the Class 4A high school football state championship game between Rochester and Burbank St. Laurence.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Friday at Hancock Stadium in Normal.
Rochester (13-0) went undefeated in the regular season to win the Central State Eight Conference crown. St. Laurence (10-3) lost the final two games of its regular season and finished its portion of the Chicago Catholic League schedule 2-1, tying with Lombard Montini and New Lenox Providence Catholic atop the four-team White division.
Keys to the game
Both the Rockets and the Vikings like to run the ball. About 75% of St. Laurence's offense comes on the ground, led by 6-foot-0, 205-pound senior running back Aaron Ball (1,484 yards, 20 touchdowns) on 202 carries. Senior quarterback Evan Les (5-11, 175 pounds) and junior running back Harley Rizzs (5-10, 185) have 486 and 421 rushing yards, respectively.
“Aaron’s been by far our best player this year,” St. Laurence coach Adam Nissen said. “He’s obviously going to be our feature guy; we’re going to try to get him moving.”
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Rochester is much more balanced with 2,880 yards rushing of the team's 5,454 offensive yards. The passing game, led by junior QB Bryan Zulauf (5-8, 170), has 2,574 yards and 34 touchdowns. The ground game, powered by 5-10, 160-pound senior Nolan Mrozowski (110 carries, 1,141 yards, 22 touchdowns), has scored 55 touchdowns.
Zulauf began the season poised to be Parker Gillespie's backup under center but a knee injury to Gillespie elevated Zulauf on the depth chart. When Gillespie (5-10, 170) returned late in the regular season, Zulauf kept the job. He's completed 67.5% of his passes (133 of 197) for 2,234 yards and has thrown 29 touchdowns against five interceptions. Gillespie, in limited opportunities, is 10 of 18 passing for 137 yards with one TD and one INT.
“Lately, we’re probably a run-first spread,” Rochester coach Derek Leonard said. “This year, we’re pretty 50-50. We adapt to whoever we have and try to attack whatever the defense is giving us.”
Senior Henry Buecker (5-10, 160) leads Rochester with 57 catches, 1,030 yards and 14 touchdowns. Three other players have more than 10 catches: senior Canon Bruce (6-2, 175 has 24 catches, 398 yards, seven TDs); junior Mason Jacobs (5-8, 140; 21-453-5 and caught two TD passes in Rochester's 42-14 semifinal victory over Murphysboro), and senior Lance Ingold (6-6, 225; 12-118-1)
“Defensively, we have to try to find a way to slow them down; extremely, extremely explosive offense — they’ve been that way for 10 years, 15 years,” Nissen said. “We need to make sure we’re in the right spots at the right times. If we’re not, they’re going to exploit us pretty quickly. We don’t need a super-human effort; we just need our best effort.”
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St. Laurence is going to have to figure out a way to crack the Rochester defense, which is averaging 9.77 points per game. The Rockets have allowed 169.2 yards of offense per game — including 72 on the ground, which is the Vikings' bread and butter. Rochester's defense has picked off 30 opponent passes and returned six for touchdowns.
“We have to establish the line of scrimmage offensively,” Nissen said. “It's probably going to be the best defense we’ve seen; if not the best, top-two or three. They fly around the ball, they really create a lot of havoc in the back. We’re going to focus offensively, really trying to establish that line of scrimmage and try to get our run game going.”
Path to Normal
Rochester’s closest game came in Week 9 in a 31-21 win at Sacred Heart-Griffin. The Rockets had just two other regular-season games that were within 30 points at the end: Peoria High in Week 1 (40-14) and Decatur MacArthur in Week 3 (49-21).
Rochester has turned on the running clock in all four playoff games with the starters watching the second- and third-string players closing out the victories.
“It's probably been one of our better defenses, for sure,” Leonard said. “It’s as good as we’ve had. We’ve always had a good defense — it gets overshadowed (by the offense), unfortunately. They believe, they play hard, they work their butts off to know the game plan. They hit, they aren’t afraid of anything and they are well-coached (by defensive coordinator Steve Buecker).”
St. Laurence hasn’t had that luxury. The Vikings played to five victories in the regular season and got a forfeit win in Week 2 over Chicago Noble Academy. After a 64-0 win over Chicago Vocational in the first round of the playoffs, things got a lot closer for the Vikings.
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St. Laurence beat Dixon 31-21 in the second round, survived Elmhurst IC Catholic 24-20 in the quarterfinals and slipped past West Chicago Wheaton Academy 31-30 in double overtime as Cesar Chavez blocked an extra point for the win.
“It’s been some crazy games; some really good, high school football games,” Nissen said of the Vikings’ postseason. “It kind of started in round two with Dixon. We won by 10 but it was a lot closer than the score indicates. Every game after Dixon has been some very crucial, high-leverage situations and some high-pressure moments and our kids stepped up and made plays. Absolutely resilient; it’s one of the most resilient groups I’ve ever coached. They never flinch, regardless of the situation.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football 4A state final: What to know about Rochester, St. Laurence
