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Burlington Central's struggles continue

Richmond-Burton played spoiler in more ways than one Friday night at Burlington Central.

Not only did R-B spoil Burlington Central's homecoming in a battle of schools both nicknamed Rockets, they ended any playoff hopes for the home team.

After a 45-7 loss, playoffs were the last thing on Burlington Central coach Brian Melvin's mind as his team dropped to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

"We're not playing well right now," Melvin said. "We haven't been playing well all year. We try to fix things and we're just not a really good football team right now."

Richmond-Burton (5-1, 3-1) took control of the game early, taking a 7-0 lead on a 60-yard touchdown run by Michael Kaufman, the first of his four scores.

After another short touchdown run made it 14-0, Burlington Central got on the board on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jake Lenschow to Layn Reynolds.

Within 14-7 after one quarter, the game quickly got out of hand for Burlington Central from there.

After a field goal from Jack Langlois and a botched kickoff kickoff return by Burlington Central, Richmond-Burton capitalized with a 1-yard run by Nicholas Legnaioli. Kaufman added another short touchdown run for a 31-7 halftime lead.

"We had a long week because we played so poorly last week," Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll said. "Marengo played great but our kids weren't focused. A long, hard week of practice and I'm really proud of our response to our loss."

Richmond-Burton ran for two more touchdowns in the second half - one in each quarter - first by Dalton Wood and then Kaufman on a 30-yard burst up the middle.

Kyle Moring blocked a punt in the third quarter for Burlington Central but the highlights were few and far between.

"Other than one series we stopped the run, made them one dimensional," Noll said. "And that makes it hard."

Burlington Central plays its final home game next Friday against Harvard before closing at Marengo and Westmont.

"I just told the kids we still need to get better," Melvin said. "That is the expectation that we need to get better.

"The game of football is crazy. There is no way we expected to come out and play like this this year. We have a lack of urgency, and it's in anything we do."

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