MILLER – Aberdeen Roncalli pitched a shutout for three quarters and came away with its third straight victory, a 47-14 non-conference win over Miller-Highmore-Harrold in a Friday night showdown.

The Cavaliers scored on all but one of their first-half drives, then put the game into running-clock mode with their first offensive play of the second half.

Brody Weinmeister scored twice in the first half, while Jett Johnson caught a pair of touchdown passes – one in each half – to pace the Roncalli offense, which had to make some pretty quick adjustments on the fly, said coach Billy Young.

“We had to respond, because what they did defensively was not what they showed the last three weeks on film,” he said.

Adjust they did, however, bolstered in part by a stellar effort on the defensive side of the ball. Luke Kaiser had two interceptions in the first half, both of which led to scores, and the Roncalli defense repeatedly put the Rustlers in 3rd-and-long and 4th-and-long situations deep in their own territory.

“Our starting defense played lights out,” Young said.

Much of that had to do with the team’s pre-game preparation.

“They’re a very pass-heavy offense,” Young said. “We don’t typically see teams like that in (Class) 11B that spread it out and throw it 60 percent of the time or more. … Our guys were prepared for that.”

Miller did end up with a pair of late touchdowns with less than eight minutes to play in a running clock. Both of those scores came against the Cavaliers’ back-ups.

“You’ve got to get younger kids in the game, too, and get them that experience,” Young said. “That’s how they learn and grow. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be perfect. … We had a lot of guys in there the last quarter.”

Roncalli quarterback Aiden Fisher finished with 78 yards rushing, including a 37-yard scamper on his first touch of the second half. He was 6-for-12 passing for 89 yards. 

Miller-Highmore-Harrold got a 12-for-19 passing effort for 96 total yards from Derek Brueggeman. The bulk of those yards came in the fourth quarter, including two TD passes, one to Isaak Hunter and a 54-yarder to Kellan Hurd.

Roncalli, now 3-1 on the season, will return home next weekend to host Webster on Friday night at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

“Hopefully we can just continue to build that momentum,” Young said.