With a conference championship on the line, seniors Tate Hallock and Luke Majick took over the game offensively to overpower the Rockford defense. With 10 goals combined between the two of them, the ball movement between the two was too much for the Ram defense to handle. The Rangers would go on to win 16-8 in a performance that highlighted both the offensive and defensive prowess from the Rangers.

FHC jumped out to a swift lead in the first quarter. Tate looked as if he had already been playing for an hour, taking no time to warm up as he scored 4 goals in the first twelve minutes, and 5 in the first half. Senior Logan Wedder assisted that early offensive boom, creating plenty of extra offensive possessions as he won 21 out of 25 faceoffs.

Junior Jackson Clay, Tate, and Luke moved the ball very well, keeping the offense fluid and smooth. Jackson racked up the assists, dishing out 4 assists throughout the game. So did Luke, but not only did Luke move the ball well—recording 3 assists—he also scored in bunches, scoring 4 goals on the day. At the half, the Rangers led 10-3, and things were looking good.

In the second half, the game became very chippy. In what was a penalty-filled half, the Rangers were facing constant adversity with the man disadvantage, but so were the Rams when penalties were called on them.

The coaching staff was happy with the way the defense played, especially when it was greeted with challenges.

“Our man-down defense did a great job as usual,” head coach Andy Shira said. “I loved the physicality our defense was playing with, sliding hard and playing the body.” The defense came up big in the second half; Senior Cam Deines and junior Chris Junkunc each won 4 ground balls, repeatedly stopping any threat of a Rockford attack.

Senior Jack Nolan made some huge saves in net, stopping 11 total Ram shots from reaching the back of the net. Not only that, but a huge save was made from him as Rockford’s Ian Rodriguez had a wide-open chance in front of the net.

In the end, the Rangers were too much for Rockford. The story of the game was the fluid ball movement from the Rangers, which created plenty of chance that the offense put away.

After the 16-8 win, the Rangers move on to 12-1 overall and 5-0 in the conference. With the conference finale on Thursday, the boys will look to finish off the conference season with an undefeated record ahead of an intrastate matchup against St. Viator (IL) on Saturday.