Rochester football back in familiar territory: Playing for a state championship
MURPHYSBORO — Back in 2010, when Rochester was gearing up to play its first game in the Central State Eight Conference, there wasn’t even a question of if the Rockets could win nine regular season games that year.
The thought of going to nine state championship games would’ve been so far-fetched, no one would’ve entertained the idea.
Now, it’s crazy to think it’s been four years since Rochester last added a trophy to the ever-crowded trophy case at the school.
A look back to 2010 Rochester's first CS8 win
Rochester (13-0) put a running clock on Murphysboro (11-2) on Saturday in an eventual 42-14 Class 4A semifinal win to advance to its ninth state championship game since 2010. The Rockets will face Burbank St. Laurence in the 4A title game on Friday at Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State University campus in Normal. The Vikings (10-3) beat West Chicago Wheaton Academy 31-30 in double overtime to win the other 4A semifinal.
“It’s been a dream of ours. We worked on it all summer. We’ve been locked (in),” said Rochester senior Nolan Mrozowski, who finished with 97 yards and three touchdowns on 11 carries in the win at Doc Bencini Field.
No surprises
Aware of Rochester’s penchant for back-breaking plays, Murphysboro coach Gary Carter had to be pleased when his team’s first punt gave the Rockets the ball at their own 2-yard line. Carter was probably equally frustrated when six plays later, Mrozowski broke through for a 24-yard touchdown carry to give Rochester a 7-0 lead with six minutes, 35 seconds, left in the first quarter.
“You think you did something good and you let them out of the hole and they score,” Carter said. “It kind of takes the air out of your sails a little bit.”
Carter added Rochester was as good as advertised.
“We knew they were good, they score at will; no, there were no surprises,” Carter said. “I expected exactly what I saw.”
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Murphysboro’s second possession went minus-17 yards before a fourth-and-27 punt. This time, Rochester needed three plays to travel 53 yards, capped by a 36-yard pass from junior Bryan Zulauf to junior Mason Jacobs.
"It is surreal," Jacobs said. "It's amazing to be under these lights with all my friends and all my family. This is just amazing."
Jacobs found himself alone once again in the third quarter and took a Zulauf pass 62 yards for his second score and a 28-0 lead.
Carter was displeased by the defense on those two passing plays.
“They got behind us twice and we had two guys that were supposed to be in zone there; deep coverage,” Carter said.
Silent, silent
Zulauf finished 9 of 14 for 181 yards and three touchdowns, including an 11-yarder to Parker Gillespie to start the running clock with 1:39 left in the third.
The Red Devils’ crowd was less enthusiastically sounding the several air horns brought by the home team’s fans after that — much to the relief of those not wearing red and yellow.
Zulauf said despite a 21-0 halftime lead, the team knew it couldn’t have a repeat of last season’s 4A semifinal when Rochester watched Sacred Heart-Griffin storm back from a 28-point deficit.
“We were confident going into halftime but we remembered what happened last year in the SHG game: going into the locker room, we got over our heads cocky, they came back and that ended up biting us in the tail,” Zulauf said. “We didn’t allow that to happen to us this year. We stuck to it and it paid off.”
The win ensured the Rochester seniors won’t be the first since 2009 to graduate without the experience of a 14th game.
“It’s such a part of what the town is, which is good and bad — it’s a positive and a negative,” Rochester coach Derek Leonard said of the pressure the players feel from the years of success. “But our kids took it on themselves and they were determined to get back. Now, we’ve got to finish the job but this group was determined to play the best football they could, finish and they did.”
The 2010 Rockets, third in the CS8 coaches’ poll in their inaugural season, went on to go 9-0 in the regular season — which included ending Sacred Heart-Griffin's 59-game win streak in the CS8 — and beat Rock Island Alleman 24-7 to win the program’s first of eight state championships.
The last time Rochester played for a state title was in 2019 with a 42-28 win over Chicago St. Rita in the 5A finale.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football: Rochester tops Murphysboro to make Class 4A title game
