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Rochester boots Morris in 4A title game

Clay Alewelt's 24-yard field goal on the last play of the game helped Rochester edge Morris 24-21 in the Class 4A title game on Friday night to wrap up the first day of high school football state championships at NIU's Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.

Morris scored late in the third quarter and managed to tie it at 21 with 4:20 left on a 4-yard pass from Mitch Mayberry to Tyler Spiezio.

Rochester took over at its own 30 and steadily drove to the Morris 5 before the final play started with four seconds left.

Quarterback Nic Baker finished 15-for-28 passing for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns for Rochester, which won for the second straight year under coach Derek Leonard, this time with an unbeaten season.

Kameron Dransfeldt was a force for Morris (11-3) and coach Alan Thorson, finishing with 184 yard on 38 carries. The Redskins were making the program's first title-game appearance since 2011.

Class 2A

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 38, Maroa-Forsyth 32: Gibson City outscored Maroa-Forsyth 15-6 in the final quarter to earn a comeback victory.

The winning touchdown came with 1:08 left, as quarterback Nathan Garard found Bryce Barnes for a 23-yard strike. That hookup was 1 of just 3 completions for Garard.

Mitch McNutt (139 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Jared Trantina (132) led Gibson City's rush-heavy attack.

Deondre Gregory led Maroa-Forsyth with 128 yards and a TD, and teammate Aaron Inda scored twice on the ground.

Coach Mike Allen's team completed a 14-0 season and won the program's first state championship, while Maroa-Forsyth finished 12-2 and earned its third runner-up finish in the last four years.

Class 1A

Lena-Winslow 21, Tuscola 20: Rahveon Valentine had a pair of long TD runs in the second quarter, and Lena-Winslow made them hold up.

Tuscola scored twice in the third quarter. On the second touchdown, it opted to go for 2 instead of kick, and a rushing attempt failed.

Valentine had scoring runs of 76 and 22 yards. He finished with 140 yards on 19 carries.

Lena-Winslow wrapped up an unbeaten season under coach Ric Arand and claimed the program's third state eight. Tuscola suffered its first loss of the season under coach Andy Romine in its first title-game appearance since 2001.

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