Racing into homecoming

As part of homecoming festivities Friday, Spencer High School students played a game called Catastrophes, similar to musical chairs, in which the last team to be completely seated is eliminated. Shown are (front to back) Jose Cervera Gay, Trinity Crain, Kaydence Plaskey, Dani Soback, Breckin Miller, Rachel Nieman and Mason Dieringer. For more photos of homecoming activities, see page 24. For coverage of Spencer-Columbus’ football game versus Amherst, see page 15.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO

In the Spencer-Columbus homecoming game held Sept. 22, the Rockets fell 49-14 against the Amherst Falcons. Going against their namesake, the Falcons were far more effective in their ground game against the Rockets than they were in the air and prevented the Rockets from getting their own ground game going for most of the night.

Amherst had 345 yards of offense during the game, with 282 of those yards coming from running plays. The Falcons ran up a 28-0 lead in the first half before Spencer-Columbus scored, with only one of their touchdowns being achieved through a 20-yard passing play.

The Rocekts were finally able to break through the Amherst blockade late in the first half with a 36-yard pass from Devlin Timmler to Kohle Hilgemann. The Rockets were unable to complete the two-point conversion for that touchdown, but completed one on their second attempt when Hilgemann ran it in. Their second touchdown was made off a 16-yard reception by Logan Ehlert. At the end of the first half, the score stood at 35-14.

The Rockets’ defense was able to hold the Falcons to just two more touchdowns during the second half, but was unable to make any more offensive moves that night. Head coach Jason Gorst said the team’s offensive line has continued to show improvement, and did well to give Timmler enough time in the pocket to complete passes.

'We showed some steady improvement tonight,” said Gorst following the game. “Drew Lang really stepped up. Carter Luepke and Mason Wolf did a great job with their blitz pickups, which helped Devlin Timmler to have a nice night.'

Timmler had 11 completions out of 22 throws, with 173 total passing yards. Spencer-Columbus also had 22 total rushing yards, with Mac Konieczny contributing 13 of those yards.

Mac Konieczny keeps his eyes on the moving blockers ahead of him as he starts the Rockets’ longest running play of the night against Amherst. He ran for 13 yards on the play, the longest run of the night for Spencer. The Rockets struggled to gain rushing yards against Amherst’s defense, but were more successful in passing, with quarterback Devlin Timmler throwing for 173 yards.

CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO