ROCHELLE – It was Yorkville’s aerial attack versus Rochelle’s smashmouth ground game Friday, and it was no contest.

Rochelle fumbled away possession four times in the first half and allowed Yorkville quarterback Luke Parece to air it out for 271 yards passing on the night, but the Hubs’ homecoming game was never in doubt. The defense had two goal-line stands - one to close out the first half on the 3-yard-line - and surrendered only one late TD as the Hubs notched their first Western Sun Conference win of the year with a 29-7 whipping of Yorkville.

“This was one of those fun games, but it was also a tiring one,” said Hub senior running back and safety Ben Schwartz, who rushed for 161 yards, scored three TDs and also batted down three passes. “And we really needed this one after a couple tough losses, and some tougher games coming up.”

Schwartz helped Rochelle (3-2, 1-2) ground out 316 yards rushing, and his 55-yard TD bumped the Hubs’ lead to 29-0 midway through the second quarter. QB Nate Eyster hit Schwartz and RB/LB C.J. Navarro for two touchdown passes on his first three throws early on as the Hubs got right into rhythm.

Rochelle’s defense came up big when it needed to as well, shutting down the Foxes all four times they got inside the 10-yard-line.

“This pretty much felt like a shutout. Our defense locked them up when we had to all night,” said Navarro, who had eight tackles. “The shutout would have been a nice exclamation point, but the win is what we needed. We needed this confidence boost.”

Yorkville’s Parece, who finished 24-for-51 for 271 yards, connected on a 12-yard TD strike to Robbie Eaton, but it was way too little, and way too late.

The Hubs will head to Sycamore next week before hosting Geneva in two pivotal Western Sun showdowns.

- Jay Taft, rrstar.com