Rochester grounds out victory over Springdale in Class A quarterfinals

By: George Guido
Friday, October 30, 2020 | 10:40 PM

In this day of sophisticated passing offenses, Rochester turned the calendar back to the 1950s with a strong ground game in Friday’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinal victory.

The Rams ran 69 plays — 68 of them runs — in a 34-17 victory over Springdale at Rochester Stadium.

The only pass play resulted in a Dynamos interception on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Rams senior Rashawn Reed carried 28 times for 204 yards and three touchdowns.

Even kicker Adam Schurr used the old-fashioned straight-on boots instead of a soccer-style kick.

No. 2 Rochester (7-1) will host No. 3 Jeannette in Friday’s semifinals.

Springdale finished 5-3. Its three losses were to the top three seeds in the Class A playoff field — Clairton, Rochester and Jeannette.

Rochester, seeking its ninth WPIAL title, is 60-19-1 in the playoffs, including 3-1 vs. the Dynamos, who are 20-15.

“We know what we can do,” Rams coach Gene Matsook said. “If we need to throw the ball, we can throw it, too. Sometimes we might not show that. Tonight, our offensive line did a tremendous job, and our running backs did an excellent job of being physical.”

Rochester drove 82 yards in 14 plays the first time it had the ball. Junior Denny Robinson scored from 2 yards to complete the possession.

The Rams drove 59 yards in 12 plays for their second touchdown. Rashawn Reed scored on a 4-yard run to go up 14-0, with 9 minutes, 12 seconds left in the second quarter.

At that point, Rochester had run 26 plays to Springdale’s 10. But the Dynamos didn’t back away.

Cavin Kindler ran 44 yards on the second play from scrimmage to reduce the Rams advantage to 14-7.

Rochester then answered with a 64-yard drive in 11 plays.

On the final two Rochester touchdown drives in the half, the Dynamos were caught offside twice on fourth downs to prolong their drives.

Dynamos senior Demitri Fritch returned the Rochester kickoff 78 yards for his team’s second touchdown. Fritch showed considerable patience as he waited for his blockers to set up and outran the Rochester coverage team to slice the Rams lead to 22-14.

It was then time for a Rochester big play.

On the second play following Fritch’s touchdown, Reed broke loose on the right side and raced 66 yards for a score to make it 28-14 with 1:31 left in the half.

“We really didn’t have an answer for them, offensively,” Springdale coach Seth Napierkowski said. “We were probably lucky to be in the position we were at halftime. We did make some adjustments, slowing them down in the second half. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

Springdale drove to the Rochester 13, using the clock superbly. A 36-yard pass to Logan Dexter set up a Matt Haus 30-yard field goal to bring Springdale within 11 points.

Sophomore Jerome Mullins returned the second-half kickoff 53 yards to the Springdale 38, and it looked like Rochester was in business again.

But in Rochester’s first attempt to pass on fourth-and-11, J.D. Azulay rolled out to pass, and Dynamos lineman Ashon Tyree spun Azulay down.

Springdale lost the ball on downs as Noah Haskins stopped Dexter on fourth-and-short.

Said Napierkowski: “They executed their game plan very well, and we didn’t. We had some undisciplined mistakes, and if you want to advance in the WPIAL playoffs, you just can’t make those type of mistakes.”

The Dynamos were charged with 14 penalties for 134 yards.

Listen to an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Tags: Rochester, Springdale