Burlington Central beats Rock Falls

Senior Casey Matthews ran for a touchdown, passed for one and caught a pass for another as Burlington Central downed Rock Falls 41-24 Friday night in Big Northern Conference crossover football action on Rocket Hill in Burlington.

Matthews helped Central (3-5) to a 14-0 lead when he ran for a 46-yard TD then caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Parth Patel. Matthews, who was 6-for-7 on PAT kicks, added both extra points to stake the Rockets to a 14-0 lead. For the game, Matthews was 8 of 13 passing for 102 yards with 1 interception. He also had 64 yards rushing in 9 carries.

Rock Falls (1-7) fought back to make it a 14-12 game as Jacob Mammoser hit Cory McCallister for a 9-yard TD and then Mammoser ran for a 7-yard score to open the second quarter.

BC took a 21-12 lead into halftime after Matthews, who had an 80-yard TD run on a reverse called back due to a holding penalty, hit Kyle Cottland with an 18-yard TD pass with 7:59 left in the second quarter.

Mammoser’s 14-yard TD pass to Austin Donoho made it 21-18 with 9:14 left in the third but Reilly Marino, who rushed 35 times for 179 yards in the win, scored from 8 yards out and Matthews’ kick gave the Rockets a 28-18 lead with 1:13 left in the third.

Rock Falls closed to within 28-24 on a 25-yard TD pass from Mammoser to McCallister with 11:38 to play, but Central came back with a 1-yard run from Jeremy Esin and then a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown from Johnny Frederickson to seal the win.

John Radtke and Mark Einwich contributed to this report