Oak Harbor's Konieczny becomes school's all-time leading rusher - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Oak Harbor's Konieczny becomes school's all-time leading rusher

With three regular season games to go, senior running back, Mark Konieczny became the all-time leading rusher for Oak Harbor tallying up 178 rushing yards as the Rockets downed Huron 27-14 on Homecoming.

Konieczny entered Friday's battle with the Tigers needing 112 yards to beat former Rocket Roger Hamilton's record.  Hamilton was a 1995 graduate of Oak Harbor. 

Behind a strong offensive line, Konieczny had little problem as he rushed the ball 31 times for 178 yards. 

"Our line has done an amazing job all year," said Konieczny. "It was no exception tonight."

Despite the night belonging to Konieczny, the victory was a complete team effort.

To start, leading 21-6 early in the fourth quarter, Huron found itself knocking at the door of the Rockets' endzone. After being stopped for three straight downs, Huron once again set up shot for a chance to narrow their deficit on fourth down.

However, a run by Huron towards the corner of the endzone was sniffed out by Oak Harbor's Cobi Brough, bringing the drive to a hault and giving Oak Harbor the ball at their own two-yard line.

Defensive stops like that happened several times throughout the game, thanks to Brough, Kaleb Maguire, Jared Chambers and others on the defense who struggled to bring down Huron's athletic quarterback, Cody Thompson.

"We did a great job," Brough said of his team's defense. "We prepared all week. It was tough tackling at times as the players were slippery, but everyone stepped up and did good."

That stop led to a 98-yard drive by Oak Harbor's offense which culminated in a one yard touchdown run by junior Ben Genzman with 5:09 to go in the game. The missed extra point by Jourdan Maguire was his first in 34-straight extra point connections. That gave the Rockets (6-1, 4-0 Sandusky Bay Conference) a 27-6 lead.

The Tigers then responded with a quick drive of their own which finished the evening's scoring when Cody Thompson squeaked into the endzone from three yards away. A two-point conversion was successful when Thompson found Zach Souter in the back of the endzone, making the final score 27-14.

The game, played in rainy and sloppy conditions started off nicely for the Rockets as they stopped Huron on its opening drive.

On its next possession, Oak Harbor mixed runs between Genzman and Konieczny before setting up the game's opening score.

That's when senior quarterback, Austin Wiegand found A.J. Cecil for a 37-yard touchdown strike to give the Rockets a 7-0 lead with 5:32 left in the first quarter.

After a missed field goal by Huron, Oak Harbor once again drove the length of the field before Konieczny's hands lost control of the football inside Huron's 10-yard line, keeping the score 7-0.

Neither team could do much with the football in the second quarter, though Genzman had several nice runs to finish with 14 carries and 67 yards rushing in the game.

Then, with 26 seconds left in the first half, Thompson found Souter on a long pass reception, giving Huron the ball at the Oak Harbor one yard line. That set up a one yard score by Thompson. A missed extra point gave the Rockets a 7-6 lead at the half.

Konieczny and the Rockets jumped out once again in the second half, scoring 14 points in the quarter.

The first score was set-up by a spectacular kickoff return by sophomore Cole Weirich, which gave the Rockets the ball inside Huron territory.

The first touchdown came when Konieczny scored from three yards out with 7:33 left in the third quarter. The other score came at the 3:12 mark on a seven yard touchdown by Konieczny.

The Rockets outrushed the Tigers 306 to 160 for the game. 

Wiegand finished the game 4-of-5 passing for 82 yards. Cecil and Genzman each had two catches.

The Rockets will travel to Clyde next Friday searching for another key run in hopes to an SBC showdown with Sandusky Perkins in just a few weeks.