Fayetteville’s Austin Brockman takes a carry in the Rockets’ week nine bout against Notre Dame.
Fayetteville’s Austin Brockman takes a carry in the Rockets’ week nine bout against Notre Dame.

Rockets, Broncos suffer late-season losses –

By Wade Linville –

Coming off wins in week eight on the gridiron, the Western Brown Broncos and the Fayetteville-Perry Rockets would both suffer losses in week nine.
The Western Brown Broncos were on the road at Norwood High School with hopes of capturing their fourth victory of the season on Oct. 21, but it was the home-standing Indians upping their overall record to 8-1 and their league mark to 3-0 with a 49-18 victory over the Broncos in week nine on the gridiron.
The Broncos dropped to an overall record of 3-6 and a 1-2 record in Southern Buckeye Athletic/Academic Conference American Division play with the loss at Norwood.
The Indians totaled 597 yards compared to Western Brown’s 371 yards. It was a bout that saw the Bronco offense put up 200 passing yards and 171 rushing yards, while the Indians racked up 162 passing yards and 435 yards on the ground.
Western Brown junior Seth Becker completed 15-of-22 pass attempts for 159 passing yards and one touchdown, but the Indian defense would snatch four interceptions.
Junior Zach Stacy led Western Brown ball-carriers with 134 rushing yards off 24 carries and two touchdowns.
Jacob Daniel led Western Brown receivers with 65 yards off three catches.
Western Brown junior Wyatt Fischer hauled in four receptions for 46 yards and one touchdown.
Norwood’s Jihad Key rushed for 164 yards on just four carries with three touchdowns, while Indian quarterback Matt Goodman completed 12-of-21 pass attempts for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
Goodman also took 13 carries for 99 yards and ran for one touchdown.
The Broncos will host the Goshen Warriors for their final game of the season on Friday, Oct. 28 on Senior Recognition Night at Western Brown.
The Fayetteville-Perry Rockets’ winning streak came to a close on Oct. 21, as they suffered a 27-0 loss to Portsmouth Notre Dame to drop to an overall record of 6-3.
The week nine loss at home came after four consecutive wins for the Rockets, a winning streak that would earn the Fayetteville-Perry varsity football program its second straight Ohio Valley Athletic League title.
While the Rockets faced struggles in execution on both ends of the ball in the week nine loss, much credit goes out to the Notre Dame varsity squad whose defense managed to hold the Fayetteville-Perry offense scoreless in the game.
The Rockets totaled only 148 rushing yards against Notre Dame with senior running back Chase Jester taking 28 carries for 128 yards, and Austin Brockman taking 15 carries for 16 yards.
With Friday’s loss, the Rockets fell from seventh to ninth in Division VI, Region 24 rankings to put one spot shy of a playoff spot and in desperate need of a win in week 10 on the gridiron.
The Rockets will have their work cut out for them once again in week 10, as they play host to 6-3 Bishop Ready to wrap up their regular season at home on Oct. 28.
The Rockets will need to finish among the top eight teams in Region 24 to earn a spot in the regional playoffs.
The top four teams in Region 24 – Marion Local (8-1), Mechanicsburg (9-0), Jefferson (8-1), and Spencerville (8-1) – have already clinched a spot in the regional playoffs.