Aberdeen grinds out tough win over Rochester

Published 1:30 am Sunday, September 21, 2025

Against a team that exclusively features a fight-in-a-phone booth running game, the strategy is to get ahead of them and make them play from behind.

That’s exactly what the Aberdeen Bobcats did in pulling away from the previously-unbeaten Rochester Warriors for a 35-20 win on Saturday at Rochester High School.

Rochester (2-1 overall) wasted little time establishing is compact running game, scoring on its first play from scrimmage when running back Xander Peterman broke burst through the Bobcats defense for a 60-yard touchdown run just 12 seconds into the game.

But the Bobcats responded with a punishing ground game of its own to drive inside Warriors territory.

Aberdeen cashed in on the opportunity when junior quarterback Mason Hill found standout running back Micah Schroeder with a swing pass. The senior speedster did the rest, turning on the afterburners to outrun the Rochester defense for a 37-yard touchdown.

Cats kicker Gabe Matthews’ extra-point kick put Aberdeen up 7-6.

Rochester drove right back down and scored on a 6-yard sweep from senior running back and University of Idaho commit, Ethan Rodriguez early in the second quarter. The Warriors two-point conversion run put Rochester up 14-7.

The game of back-and-forth continued as Aberdeen caught up by utilizing the big-play capability of another one of its sprinters in senior Adonis Hammonds.

Facing a third-down play near midfield, Hill floated a well-time pass down the sideline to Hammonds, who hauled in the catch and broke free from a defender to score a 48-yard touchdown.

Matthews’ subsequent kick was off the mark, keeping Aberdeen in a slim deficit at 14-13.

Looking for a spark on the defensive end, Aberdeen found it when Peterman – in the middle of what looked like a rugby scrum – had the ball stripped away. Bobcats senior lineman Jose Aparatio dove on the loose ball to give the Aberdeen offense the ball.

Benefited by a 15-yard personal-foul facemask penalty, the Cats converted the turnover into points five plays later when Schroeder ran it in on a gap run from 6-yards out. His two-point conversion run one play later staked Aberdeen to a 21-14 lead.

Rochester was right back at it on its next offensive possession, driving inside the Aberdeen red zone with under a minute left in the first half.

Facing a crucial fourth-and-2 play from the Aberdeen 5-yard line with 27 ticks on the clock, Rochester put the ball in the hands of Rodriguez, but the 6-foot-5 standout was stuffed at the line of scrimmage by defensive back Luke Martin and linebacker Riley Wixson, forcing a turnover on downs.

The Bobcats ran off the final few seconds of the second quarter to take a 21-14 lead at the break.

But the Warriors weren’t done as the Rochester defense forced an Aberdeen punt to open the third quarter then drove 67 yards on 11 plays, scoring on a short Peterman run with 4:47 on the clock.

The Warriors two-point run was stopped, preserving a slim 21-20 Bobcats lead.

Aberdeen would recover Rochester’s onside kick then gave the Warriors a taste of their own medicine, marching 54 yards on 11 plays and taking a 28-20 lead with a bit of razzle-dazzle.

Facing a key third-down play, Hill took a perfect snap from center Dylan Brown and handed off to Wixson, who quickly gave the ball to Schroeder on a criss-cross handoff. Schroeder then scampered seven yards for the touchdown.

“We run that play all the time. It’s one of our best plays and we are very confident with that play,” said Wixson of the Aberdeen ‘counter criss-cross.’

“We practice that play quite often, but honestly, I don’t think any of the coaches knew it would work that well. … (Rochester) didn’t expect it and didn’t defend it well. … It was a big hole, no one was there as they were running the opposite way. I just took it straight to the end zone, no showboating and (handed the ball) straight to the ref.”

Matthews kicked the extra point to put Aberdeen up by eight early in the fourth quarter.

Needing another big stop on defense after a personal-foul facemask penalty put the Warriors offense at midfield, the Bobcats held Peterman and Rodriguez to just four yards on three rushing plays.

Facing a fourth-and-long from the Aberdeen 45-yard line, a pass from Warriors quarterback Easton Singleton toward Rodriguez on a corner route to the sideline fell incomplete, turning the ball back over to the Bobcats.

It was Rochester’s only pass attempt of the contest.

The Aberdeen offense then did the rest, with Schroeder and Wixson churning out tough running yards to move the chains. With the ball inside Warriors territory, Hill, Wixson and Schroeder worked some magic once again, using the criss-cross handoff to free up Schroeder for a 26-yard touchdown scamper with 5:46 to play.

Matthews’ third extra point of the evening staked Aberdeen to a 35-20 lead.

Rochester’s comeback hopes were dashed on the ensuing drive when the Aberdeen defense stuffed a fourth-down run, turning the ball back over to the Bobcats.

A 41-yard run from Schroeder with 1:30 left allowed the Aberdeen offense to assume the victory formation, taking a couple of knees to run out the clock and leave town with a gritty 35-20 victory.

“We knew it was going to be hard,” Schroeder said. “We just executed. The off-season work, the weight room, … we just put the work in.”

“I think we excelled and played very hard,” Wixson said. “I think we did a very good job.”

Aberdeen had 293 total yards in the game to 244 for the Warriors, with the Bobcats holding a distinct 137-54 advantage in the second half.

“Talk about role-reversal right? We like to slice and dice and throw some (run-pass option) and get the ball to the perimeter and we ended up hammering it between the tackles,” Aberdeen head coach Todd Bridge said before turning his attention to the work of defensive coordinator David Tarrence to get an undersized front ready for Rochester. “You can’t simulate their offense. We just can’t. We don’t have 330-pound guys standing around. But Coach Tarrence did a fantastic job of dialing this thing up.”

Bridge added part of the game plan was to force Rochester’s offense to play catch up when time was not on its side.

“We wanted to find out, what does Rochester do when they are down by two touchdowns? Because they are never down by two touchdowns,” Bridge said. “They play an anaconda, squeeze-the-life-out-of-you style and it had that feel in the first half. … At the end of the day, it was just the kids being gutty.”

Aberdeen had 175 yards on the ground, led by Schroeder, who had 139 yards and three rushing touchdowns on 14 carries.

“I probably have like five pulled muscles. I worked by butt off,” Schroeder quipped after another load-bearing performance. “We just make less mistakes than (Rochester), we executed at practice every day and took it serious. We had a walk-through today – nobody wanted to wake up early – but we woke up early and got it done and got our minds ready for the game. We locked in all game and just executed.”

Hill went 7 for 11 for 118 yards, with Hammonds catching two passes for 54 yards to lead the Bobcats receivers.

“I thought (Aberdeen offensive coordinator) Macoy Gronseth did a great job of calling some plays, driving us down the field, chewing up clock and keeping (Rochester) on their heels the whole time,” Bridge said.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but due to poor air quality from the Bear Gulch Fire, the game was postponed until Saturday evening.

As it turned out, that was a blessing in disguise for a Bobcats team playing on a notoriously unkempt natural surface at Rochester High School.

“The extra day kind of helped because we had cleats that came in the mail,” said Bridge, confirming a rumor that Aberdeen had ordered longer, screw-in cleats to get a better grip on the grass surface. “So when you were seeing Micah (Schroeder) dancing around a bit it’s because he had screw-in cleats today. We didn’t have them yesterday. Hats off my wife on that one. She was tracking them down on eBay and all kinds of crazy stuff.”

Aberdeen faces Hoquiam in the 120th Myrtle Street Rivalry at 7 p.m. on Friday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.

Aberdeen 7 14 0 14 – 35

Rochester 6 8 6 0 – 20

Scoring

First quarter

Rochester – Peterman 60 run (run fail), 11:48

Aberdeen – Schroeder 37 pass from Hill (Matthews kick), 6:47

Second quarter

R – Rodriguez 13 run (Peterman run), 11:15

A – Hammonds 48 pass from Hill (kick fail), 8:43

A– Schroeder 6 run (Schroeder run), 5:16

Third quarter

R – Peterman 3 run (run fail), 4:47

Fourth quarter

A – Schroeder 7 run (Matthews kick), 11:15

A – Schroeder 26 run (Matthews kick), 5:46

Passing: A – Hill 7-11-0-118. R – Singleton 0-1-0-0.

Rushing: A –Schroeder 14-139; Wixson 11-39; Schreiber 2-2; Hill 4-(-4); Crowder 1-(-3). R – Peterman 16-113; Rodriguez 19-66; Rodgers 12-72; Singleton 4-(-7).

Receiving: A – Hammonds 2-54; Schroeder 3-46; Schreiber 2-18.