Can’t Touch this!

Kylan Touch owned the night against Rochester and broke two school records in Aberdeen’s win over Rochester.

Aberdeen came away with the 56-14 victory Friday at Stewart Field but Touch was the story of the night, coming away with over 200 yards on the ground while scoring six touchdowns to break Aberdeen’s single-season rushing record and career rushing records.

Entering the game, Touch only needed 39 yards to surpass the career rushing record and 149 to eclipse the single-season rushing record.

The career rushing record of 3,029 was held by Charles Ladd and the single-season record of 1,491 yards had been held by Alex Chicano, both of whom were surpassed with Touch’s performance Friday night

Touch said he tried not to focus on records when he took the field.

“I was trying to stay clear-headed and focused,” he said. “Obviously, the record is always going to be on my mind a little bit, but when it comes to game time I’m just here to get the W. It was Senior Night and the last game on my home field so I just wanted to get a win with my boys.”

Touch accounted for most of the yardage on the ground on the first 70-yard drive and capped off the first possession with a 5-yard touchdown run.

It was evident from the opening kickoff that Touch would rewrite the record books but Rochester’s relentless option run game caused some trouble for the Bobcats up front as they scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions.

After a slow start, Rochester got things going and capped off a long drive of mostly run plays with a 3-yard slant pass that was caught for a touchdown to bring the score to 14-7.

Touch answered back immediately and returned the next kick 80 yards to the house for another touchdown.

With the score at 21-7, Rochester drove down the field again to make it a one-score game. Aberdeen head coach Kevin Ridout said it took a while for his defense to adjust.

“On film, they’re scoring a lot of points against everybody,” he said. “At first, we were getting a little too deep on the edges for the quarterback and we just had to be patient and get in there. It was a great effort.”

Rochester got itself into trouble when it tried to move the ball through the air late in the second quarter.

Touch had his hands all over this game and returned a pick 50 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-14 before half.

Unofficial numbers gave Touch both rushing records before halftime but he was not done terrorizing the Warriors’ defense.

Touch scored on runs of 7 and 5 yards in the third quarter as the Bobcats started to put the game away at 42-14.

Ridout said he was impressed with Touch’s performance but also sang the praises of his entire offensive unit.

“He’s been the soul of the offense, the soul of the defense but there are a lot of guys who are stepping forward,” he said. “Ben Dublanko had a good game at quarterback and Cameron Hochstetler did great blocking on the edge. The whole offensive line was getting a great push.”

It took until 7:15 in the fourth quarter for someone not named Touch to get in the end zone for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen quarter Ben Dublanko scored on a read option play to make the score 49-14. With the backups in the game, Aiden Neely got a few carries and eventually found the end zone himself to put the running clock in effect.

The offensive and defensive units were equally dominant in the second half. While the Bobcats ran the ball at will, Rochester had difficulty running the ball without committing a turneover.

Hochstetler, Dillen Espana and Dan Hunt all came way with fumble recoveries while Bailey Delahanty picked off a pass to help the defense pitch a shutout in the final 24 minutes of the game.

Aberdeen will take on Centralia to close out the season on the road. The Bobcats will be playing for pride but Touch said he and his teammates are determined to end things on a positive note after an up and down season.

“I’m excited to take the field and finish strong,” he said. “The season hasn’t gone as we hoped but we’re just trying to finish out with a bang.”