Huskies ruin Rockford homecoming with 57-0 rout

By Andrew Larson

sports@charlescitypress.com

ROCKFORD — It was the sort of game that was practically decided shortly before it began.

Had some arrived a few minutes late they’d be inclined to wonder if Nashua-Plainfield had been spotted a 14-point lead as it attained that advantage with still more than nine minutes left in the first quarter.

The Huskies quickly proved that they wouldn’t need such handicap to get the win on the road over Rockford on Friday night, spoiling the Warriors’ homecoming festivities with a 57-0 beatdown.

As previously mentioned, the Huskies quickly got themselves out to a 14-0 lead very early in the first quarter with respective TD runs of 4 and 7 yards by Braydon Fisher and Levi Enright, while the season-long offensive struggles of Rockford continued to plague the home team. (The aggressive Husky defense wasn’t doing the Warriors any favors, either.)

The Warriors’ lone shot at scoring came with just under seven minutes to play in the first quarter. The Warriors offense managed to push its way to the N-P 25 before its drive stalled.

The Huskies would find the end zone once more the first quarter was over, this time on a 37-yard catch and run by Enright from quarterback Dayton Hansen, and the score stood at 20-0 after one quarter of play.

After once again silencing the Warriors’ offense, the Huskies methodically made their way down the field via a healthy mix of running and passing plays. Junior Mason Hyde found paydirt for the Huskies with a 12-yard scamper with 5:12 remaining in the half.

Later in the second quarter, Nashua-Plainfield got an opportunity to run the two-minute drill. After getting the ball inside the Warriors’ ten-yard line, Rockford had an opportunity to escape the drive unscathed after a false start penalty couple with a pair of impressive defensive stands forcing a fourth-and-goal at the 11  with under 20 seconds left in the half. With the clock ticking away, Hanson didn’t let the pressure get to him as he found senior Jared Whitinger in the back of the end zone.

The third quarter began as inauspiciously as it possibly could have for the Warriors. After failing to move the ball on their initial possession, a botched snap led to the punter being brought down with the ball deep within his own end zone for a safety. On the ensuing kick, Fisher found a seam and followed it 56 yards all the way to paydirt.

When all was said and done, the Huskies had added 9 points to their already near insurmountable lead within the span of 11 seconds.

Fisher wasn’t finished running all over the Warrior defense, however, as the junior added a 52-yard sprint to the end zone to cap of Nashua-Plainfield’s next possession to put the Huskies up by a score of 50-0 with 5:57 to play in the third quarter.

Nashua-Plainfield would score one more time before calling off the dogs, so to speak, this time on a 1-yard dive by junior Tristan Brase on the first play of the fourth quarter, to bring the final tally to 57-0 in favor of the Huskies.

“That’s a message to our district what this team is about,” Nashua-Plainfield head coach Chase Sudol declared to his players after the game. “Win the day. That’s where our focus has got to be from here on out.”

Sudol was especially proud of his team for being able to bounce back from a disheartening loss to St. Ansgar earlier in the week.

“Coming in we had a lot of confidence in ourselves,” Sudol saud. “We had some of our best practices this week. I thought we’d do well, but not quite this well.

“We played really well tonight. It was a good team effort. There were some mental mistakes, but it was a good team win, though.”

Next week Rockford travels to Mason City to take on Newman Catholic. Meanwhile, Nashua-Plainfield will travel to Greene for a Class A-3 District matchup with North Butler.

NASHUA-PLAINFIELD 57, ROCKFORD 0

Scoring By Quarters

Nashua-Plainfield 20 14 16 7 — 57

Rockford 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring Summary

NP — Braydon Fisher 4 run (Mason Hyde kick) 7-0, 10:19 1st.

NP — Levi Enright 7 run (Hyde kick) 14-0, 9:06 1st

NP — Enright 37 pass from Dayton Hansen (Kick failed) 20-0, :29 1st.

NP — Hyde 13 run (Fisher run) 28-0, 5:12 2nd.

NP — Jared Whitinger 11 pass from Hansen (Kick failed) 34-0, :07 2nd.

NP — Safety 36-0, 9:55 3rd.

NP — Fisher 56 kick return (Hyde kick) 43-0, 9:44, 3rd.

NP — Fisher 52 run (Hyde kick) 50-0, 5:57 3rd.

NP — Tristen Brase 1 run (Hyde kick) 57-0, 11:56 4th.

PASSING — NP — Dayton Hansen 12-14-0 149 2 TDs; R — Zach Bushbaum 3-19-0 23.

RUSHING — NP — Mason Hyde 7-108 TD, Braydon Fisher 15-73 2 TDs, Levi Enright 2-10 TD, Lukas Bucknell 3-6, Tristen Brase 2-6 TD; R — Tanner Grader 7-39, Kaden Lyman 1-30, Chase Krueger 1-14.

RECEIVING — NP — Enright 8-106 TD, Jared Whitinger 2-17 TD, Chaska Hunt 1-15, Travon Adams 1-11; R — Kaden Lyman 2-23, Tanner Grady 1-0.

Press photo by Andrew Larson

Nashua-Plainfield’s Levi Enright had 106 yards receiving and scored two touchdowns in the Huskies’ win over Rockford.