Anna’s Noah Aufderhaar makes a touchdown catch while covered by St. Henry’s Carson Harrod on Friday at Anna.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
ANNA — The Anna Rockets got their first Midwestern Athletic Conference win of the season off the back of Zach Osborn’s pick-six against rival St. Henry 21-14 at Booster Field on Friday.
The first quarter of the game was a battle between defenses where both sides sacked the opposing quarterback multiple times.
“They have a great defense,” Anna head coach Nick Marino said. “I’ve watched them hold some good football teams to little rushing yards in multiple games. We have to run the ball a little bit better.”
After 12 minutes, the Rockets (3-2, 1-2) only managed one big offensive gain. A 55-yard reception from quarterback Alex Shappie to Noah Aufderhaar put Anna deep in St. Henry territory.
After a few mildly successful runs for the Rockets, Shappie found Aufderhaar in the back corner of the end zone for an acrobatic touchdown that gave Anna a 7–0 lead with 8:30 to play in the half.
The Rockets got a huge stop following their score with another sack of the St. Henry quarterback to force a punt. The punt was very short and gave Anna the ball on St. Henry’s own 35.
Alex Shappie found Zach Osborn while scrambling for a huge first down which extended the drive further into enemy territory.
Anna was unable to make anything happen with the drive and gave St. Henry the ball back with 3:50 left in the half on its own 16-yard line.
St. Henry marched down into Rockets territory, but the drive was abruptly ended when Osborn nabbed an interception and took it 70 yards for a touchdown with just seconds left to play in the half.
“That was the difference in the ball game right there,” Marino said. “We had dropped two interceptions on that drive and were telling our kids when they throw you the ball, you have to take it. Osborn is a good football player and that’s a game-winning play.”
Anna was able to hold on and take a 14-0 lead into halftime.
The Rockets received the kickoff to start the second half and Alex Shappie immediately found Aufderhaar for a first down.
Alex Shappie went on to find Aufderhaar again later in the drive for an eight-yard touchdown to put Anna up 21-0 halfway through the third.
The Rockets gave up their first score of the game when St. Henry managed a 59-yard reception that cut the lead to 21-7 after a successful extra point.
St. Henry battled down into the red zone to end the third quarter but was unable to score as Anna’s defense stifled a quarterback sneak to force a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter.
The Rockets marched down the field and killed over four minutes of the clock in the process before a punt and long return gave St. Henry possession of the ball near midfield with just over seven minutes to play.
St. Henry was able to complete a 20-yard reception for a touchdown with four and a half minutes left to play that cut Anna’s lead to 21-14.
The Rockets got the ball back and held on with the help of an Alex Shappie 44-yard run to put Anna in St. Henry territory en route to a 21-14 victory for its first MAC win this season.
“We have to clean some things up on both sides of the ball,” Marino said. “We blew a couple of coverages in the second half and drove poorly on the football and took bad angles. We have to play those angles way better than what we did today or we’ll have a tough ride next week.”
Next Saturday, The Rockets take on Delphos St. John’s at St. Johns at 1:30 p.m. in another MAC matchup.
Reach assistant editor and sports writer Ryan Harless at 937-538-4651 or follow @RyanHarless_ on X (formerly Twitter)
