It started with a bunch of Richmond-Burton players flying to the football and making a play.

It ended with a bunch of Richmond-Burton players flying to the football and making a play.

In between, the Rockets did what they’ve done all season. They made plays in all three phases and won another game – No. 299 in the coaching career of Mike Noll – by a convincing margin.

R-B’s 21-0 victory over host Woodstock North on Friday night improved its record to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

The Rockets, the fifth-ranked team in Class 3A in the AP poll, won by shutout for the second time this season, while ending the three-game winning streak of North (4-3, 3-2).

“Just reading the phase in front of you and making sure your eyes are disciplined,” R-B inside linebacker Blake Livdahl, who had a tackle for loss, said of the keys to the defense’s success.

The Rockets limited the Thunder to 125 yards of offense (all on the ground) in the battle of triple-option attacks.

When North threatened to break the shutout with just more than a minute left in the fourth quarter, R-B defenders Edward Carley, Joseph Larson and Luke Johnson gang-tackled Thunder quarterback Parker Halihan at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal from the 5.

“That’s just our week of preparation,” Rockets outside linebacker/tight end Luke Robinson said. “We schemed for their offense. Our scout team is what I give credit to. They ran their offense just as good as [North]. It just gives us a great look, and we knew exactly what was coming. We saw every single play they ran in the practice this week. We weren’t caught off guard with anything.”

R-B seemed to catch North off guard to start the game. The Rockets squibbed the opening kickoff, and Johnson emerged from a pile of players with the ball at the Thunder 36.

“We planned that,” said Noll, who now counts 75 wins as R-B’s coach since taking over the program in 2018. He’s also picked up 142 wins at McHenry and 82 at Glenbrook South during his illustrious coaching career.

R-B took advantage of the recovered squib kick, despite committing two holding penalties on what was a seven-play scoring drive. Quarterback Ray Hannemann hit Robinson at the left pylon for a 29-yard touchdown pass on third-and-14 with 8:30 left in the first quarter.

“It was a designed play for this week. It’s called Thunder 2,” Robinson said. “Just a seam. It’s me, one-on-one versus the corner. Ray put it right where I know I could get it, and I got it.”

R-B has been able to run the ball effectively and pile up plenty of points (a KRC-leading 255 through six weeks), but North didn’t allow that to happen.

“They’re a pretty good team,” Noll said of the Thunder. “They got really good seniors, they got really good size, and they defended us well.”

The Rockets rushed for 192 yards, but their longest gain from scrimmage was 14 yards, as the Thunder prevented explosive plays.

“Defensively, we played really well,” Thunder outside linebacker Braelan Creighton said. “We stopped their run, and they ended up having to pass on us. We’ve been able to stop the run [this season]. Even when we played IC Catholic [a 40-13 loss in Week 2], we stopped their run pretty well.”

R-B had scored 40-plus points in each of its past four games. Hunter Carley – who celebrated his 17th birthday Friday and got sung to by his teammates on the field after the game – rushed 22 times for 95 yards.

“I think [North] game-planned for us pretty well,” said Carley, who was coming off a 301-yard, five-TD effort against Sandwich in Week 6. “They did a good job all week practicing and preparing for us, but we were still able to score three touchdowns, so we got done what we needed to be done.”

Hannemann (6-of-11 passing, 91 yards) hit tight end Jace Nelson with a 15-yard TD pass midway through the second quarter to make the score 14-0.

R-B’s offense then had possession of the ball almost the entire third quarter. Fullback Riley Shea’s 2-yard TD run capped a 16-play, 79-yard drive with 1:27 left in the third. The only pass on the drive was a play-action, 17-yarder from Hannemann to Robinson (three receptions, 58 yards).

Shea finished with 68 rushing yards on 18 carries, and Johnson carried four times for 34 yards.

North fullback David Randecker rushed for 66 yards on 12 carries. Halihan had 54 rushing yards on 12 attempts.

“We had good communication [during the winning streak],” Creighton said. “We were just communicating more on the field, and staying calm plays a big role in that.”