Rockhurst exacted its revenge from last year’s state title game and gave their coach a night to remember on the very field that is now named in his honor.
The Hawklets made Christian Brothers play their game and delivered big plays in big moments to upend the second-ranked Cadets (6-2) 31-14 on Friday night at Rockhurst High School.
On a night where their defense dominated, the Hawklets fittingly forced a turnover on downs with 7:46 left and on the very next play senior Max Williams raced 55 yards for the score to seal Rockhurst's biggest win of the season.
"I couldn't thank them enough," Rockhurst head coach Tony Severino said. "It was a surreal night. I couldn't even dream this night. We made the plays when we had to. We were trying to find our playmakers and they did a great job. Sometimes things go for you, sometimes they don't and tonight they went for us. Hopefully we're reaching our peak right now."
ockhurst did the little things right and the defense was stifling all night.
The Hawklets’ Owen Lawson drilled a 25-yard field goal on their first drive of the game to give the hosts a 3-0 lead after they forced a CBC 3-and-out.
Rockhurst downed a punt inside the 5 then forced and recovered a fumble on the next play.
Quarterback Bobby Hummel punched it in on 4th-and-goal and it was 10-0 Hawklets with 1:55 to play in the first quarter.
The Cadets finally found some success on offense in the second quarter with an eight-play, 56-yard drive capped by a TD pass from Ayden Robinson-Wayne to Chevalier Brenson with 7:46 left in the half.
Rockhurst leaned again on their defense and they answered the bell early in the second half.
With 7:53 left in the third, Wilson Selzer picked off a CBC pass and took it to the house to move the Hawklets in front 17-7.
The Cadets put together a much-needed scoring drive on their next possession to make it a one-score game. With 1:21 left in the third a 6-yard pass from Patrick Heitert to Zach Hahn made it a 17-14 game.
Rockhurst answered right back and a 26-yard pass from Hummel to Luke Beshoner pushed the lead back to 10 (24-14) with 9:41 left in the game.
The Hawklets (5-3) are on the road at Jefferson City next week.
