BY CHARLES CHANEY
WELLINGTON, Kan. — You knew it was going to be a good night for Rose Hill when junior QB, Zander Ford just lofted one into the Kansas night sky and it landed in the hands of one of his teammates.
Remington Merlau came down with it and it continued a drive for the Rockets that eventually led to the game’s opening drive.
The Rockets would never look back or trail in their 55-14 win over rival Wellington on Friday night.
With the win, Rose Hill now has won four of their last five games with the lone slip up with to McPherson.
Rose Hill is now 4-3 on the season with a season ender against Independence, setting up the Rockets for a strong position in the 4A playoffs.
They ended a four-game losing streak to Wellington, with their last win coming in 2020.
Kai Kirchhoff-Jones was a big reason why the Rockets were able to score on their opening drive. Him and Ford had a ying-yang going on and the Crusaders (5-2) had no answer early for them or anyone really on the Rockets side of things.
Kirchhoff-Jones would take a direct snap with 4:16 to go in the first quarter putting the Rockets ahead early.
While Wellington would answer in the second quarter on a 25-yard run by Montraey Roberts, Rose Hill made sure to put any distance between the two schools. Rose Hill would go score the next 34 points. By the time Wellington was able to get anything going, it was too late.
After both teams traded fumbles, it was the Rockets going to work at KJ Jones scored on his second carry, cutting back to the left and cruising into the end zone for the touchdown.
Rose Hill would convert a fourth-and-1 from the Rockets 41-yard line on an 18-yard KJ Jones keeper. That eventually led to Ford scampering into the end zone on an option keeper that saw him go into the end zone untouched and Rose Hill had built a double digit lead with 2:13 to go until half.
Merlau would come up big on the first play of the next drive as a bad snap would hit the ground, with Merlau falling on it to give Rose Hill great field position at the Wellington 8-yard line. Two plays later and KJ Jones would punch in his second of five touchdowns on the evening.
Wellington would get down to the Rocket 6-yard line with 22 seconds to go before half but KJ Jones came through with the interception, killing the drive.
Rose Hill led 27-7 at the break.
Then, the defense kept up their relentless attack as they forced Wellington to turn over on downs at the Wellington 37 yard line early in the third quarter.
KJ Jones made them pay by side stepping a would be tackler and running into the end zone for another touchdown. He was lit up after the play but the Rockets led 34-7 with just over five minutes remaining in the quarter.
That’s where Wellington would get their fourth turnover as Andy Poss picked off a bad pass and returned it to the Crusader 30-yard line. One player later, Jones was nearly untouchable on a 30-yard run as Rose Hill was running away with it.
Kirchhoff-Jones would make the Crusaders pay for onside kicking it as he took the second play of the drive 47 yards, cutting up the middle and down the Rocket sideline for his second touchdown of the game and gave Rose Hill the 48-14 lead with 2:59 to go in the third.
KJ Jones would tack on another for good measure in the third quarter.
The previous largest margin of victory over Wellington was a 35-0 win in 2019 but a 41-point blowout probably takes the cake on that one.
The Rockets compiled 416 yards rushing before any kneel downs and were just the top team from the opening kick off and through when the reserves dominated.
KJ Jones finished with 195 yards on 18 carries and five touchdowns. Kirchhoff-Jones had two touchdowns to go with his 99 yards on 15 carries. Ford had 41 on six carries. Ford also was 4 of 6 passing for 51 yards.
The Rose Hill defense held a really talented Wellington passing game to just 97 yards passing and picked off two passes. They also forced two fumbles and had multiple fourth down stops.
It’s one of the more complete performances for the Rockets this season.
Now they had on the road to play Independence on Friday night for a chance to cap a strong regular season. Independence upset Labette County on Friday night and are 3-4 this season. Rose Hill is 5-0 all-time vs. Indy and has scored at least 42 points in all five meetings. Last year’s 55-20 win was the most points allowed in a game between the two.
Rose Hill 55, Wellington 14
Rose Hill 7 20 28 0 — 55
Wellington 7 0 7 0 — 14
RH – Kai Kirchhoff-Jones 19 run (Josh Herrera kick)
W – Montraey Roberts 25 run (Fisher Elder kick)
RH – KJ Jones 17 run (kick no good)
RH – Zander Ford 18 run (Herrera kick)
RH – KJ Jones 4 run (Herrera kick)
RH – KJ Jones 11 run (Herrera kick)
RH – KJ Jones 30 run (Herrera kick)
W – Jalik Armstrong 80 run (Elder kick)
RH – Kai Kirchhoff-Jones 47 run (Herrera kick)
RH – KJ Jones 62 run (Herrera kick)
RUSHING: RH – Kirchhoff-Jones 15-99-2; KJ Jones 18-195-5; Ford 6-41-1; Merlau 1-2; Bentley 3-17; Hill 4-47; Hernandez 6-15; team 3-(-12). Total: 54-404. Wellington – Jalik Armstrong 15-136-1; Roberts 1-25-1; Elmore 9-28; John Armstrong 5-28; Holloway 2-4. Total 32-290.
PASSING (C-A-YD-TD-INT): RH – Ford 4-6-51-0-0. Wellington – Elmore 7-19-97-0-2.
RECEIVING: RH – Merlau 1-15; Dees 1-23; Bentley 2-13. Wellington – Roberts 2-13; Brownlee 1-(-3); Zeka 2-19; Curry 2-58.
