Rochester rolls past St. Laurence in Illinois 4A football championship game

Rockets run for 305 yards in 59-38 title game victory

NORMAL, ILLINOIS – The Rochester Rockets rolled through the playoffs and kept rolling in the Illinois Class 4A football championship game on Friday night.  

Rochester racked up 492 yards of offense, with 305 on the ground, in a dominating 59-38 victory over St. Laurence to win its ninth state championship in 14 seasons.

"I'm so proud of these seniors, so proud of these guys," Rochester coach Derek Leonard said. "This is something they've been thinking about for a long time and the last few years we came up short. We kept fighting. It's a blessed team and I'm blessed to be in this town and blessed to be around these kids." 

Rochester (14-0) was led offensively by junior quarterback Bryan Zulauf, senior running back Nolan Mrozowski and senior wide receiver Henry Buecker. 

Zulauf completed 15 of 19 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 44 yards. Mrozowski ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. Buecker caught 10 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown and ran for 57 yards and a score.

Illinois high school football: Top standouts, best performances at state championships (11/24/2023)

St. Laurence (10-4), which was attempting to win its first state title since 1976 in its first championship game appearance since losing to East St. Louis in 1979, was led by senior running Aaron Ball and senior quarterback Evan Les.

Ball ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, while Les ran for two touchdowns and passed for 138 yards and a score.

Rochester led 14-7 after one quarter and 17-7 early in the second quarter after kicking a field goal. St. Laurence cut the deficit to 17-14 on Ball's first touchdown run, but Rochester answered with a pair of Mrozwoski short touchdown runs to extend its advantage to 31-14.

"I think we kind of had some self-inflicted wounds on offense," St. Laurence coach Adam Nissen said. "Everything we prepped for, what they were gonna give us defensively, we saw. I thought we did a good job of moving the ball, you know, throughout the course of the game. I haven't had a chance to look at the total stats, but, offensively, we've had a really good postseason. They didn't really do a whole lot that we weren't prepared for. So they executed and at certain points we weren't able to."

ILLINOIS FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE

Loyola Academy beats Lincoln-Way East to win second straight Illinois 8A football championship

Mount Carmel beats Downers Grove North to win Illinois 7A football championship

Cary-Grove rallies to beat East St. Louis, win Illinois 6A football championship

Nazareth Academy beats Joliet Catholic in Illinois Class 5A football championship game

Byron routs Mt. Carmel to win Illinois Class 3A football championship

Wilmington gets defensive to beat Athens in Illinois 2A football title game

Camp Point Central tops Lena-Winslow to win Illinois 1A football championship

---

ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEWS

Players to watch at the Illinois football state championships

Illinois 1A title game preview: Lena-Winslow vs. Camp Point Central

Illinois 2A title game preview: Athens vs. Wilmington

Illinois 3A title game preview: Byron vs. Mt. Carmel

Illinois 4A title game preview: Rochester vs. St. Laurence

Illinois 5A title game: Joliet Catholic vs. Nazareth Academy

Illinois 6A title game: East St. Louis vs. Cary-Grove

Illinois 7A title game: Mount Carmel vs. Downers Grove North

Illinois 8A title game: Lincoln-Way East vs. Loyola Academy

More coverage: Get live Illinois high school football scores on SBLive Sports. To follow your favorite teams check out the SBLive live high school football scoreboard and download the SBLive Sports App.

- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIL