JOHNSBURG — When the Hubs varsity football team records roughly 375 yards of total offense while logging over 35 minutes of possession time, the purple and white typically walk away with the victory. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case when Rochelle battled the Johnsburg Skyhawks on the road Friday night in a matchup of ranked opponents.

The Hubs held Johnsburg to a 10-8 lead at halftime, but the Skyhawks swung the game in their favor with four touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to overwhelm Rochelle by a final score of 40-22. Johnsburg (2-0) entered the evening ranked No. 5 in Class 4A, while the Hubs (1-1) were listed as the No. 6 team in Class 5A.

“They had four really good athletes on the perimeter and we got in a lot of 1-on-1 situations,” Rochelle head coach Kevin Crandall said after the game. “They were just a little more athletic than we were on the perimeter.”

Johnsburg took a 7-0 lead with 3:48 remaining in the first quarter when quarterback Adam Jayko took advantage of a broken coverage by the Hubs to find wide receiver Nico LoDolce for an 81-yard touchdown strike. Rochelle responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive that culminated in a 4-yard scoring rush by senior Ehren Metzger. The Hubs looked to tie the game with an extra point, but senior quarterback Noah Mershon took a low snap and ran the ball 2 yards off the right side for a 2-point conversion to give Rochelle an 8-7 advantage with 8:03 left in the second quarter.

The Hubs forced the Skyhawks to punt on their next possession, and Rochelle marched down to Johnsburg’s 13-yard line before coming up short on a critical fourth-and-3 rushing attempt by junior Brandon Johnson. The Skyhawks took over on downs and gained 80 yards before settling for a 25-yard field goal by Jayko to end the first half.

Another pivotal swing in the game came two plays into the third quarter, when a Rochelle fumble led to a 39-yard touchdown connection between Jayko and Johnsburg wide receiver Brody Frazier. The Hubs blocked the extra point when junior Eddie Villalobos rushed off the edge and knocked the attempt down, and Rochelle bounced back once again, driving 70 yards and cashing in on a 1-yard Metzger rush to make it a 16-15 game.

Perhaps the nuttiest play of the night came on a second-and-5 pass by Jayko from the Rochelle 44-yard line. Jayko’s ball was over the head of intended receiver Augie Rowe, and Hub senior defensive back Brendon Danekas looked to be in position for the interception. Instead, the ball bounced off Danekas’ chest and into the outstretched hand of Rowe, who ran it in to complete a 44-yard scoring play.

“I thought we had an interception there,” Crandall said.

Johnsburg stretched its lead to 30-15 with 2:31 in the third quarter when Trent Hauck rushed for a 49-yard touchdown, the Skyhawks’ only running score of the night. Rochelle wasn’t done yet, though, and the Hubs cut Johnsburg’s lead to eight after Mershon made several Skyhawk defenders miss on a 57-yard rushing touchdown.

But Johnsburg simply had too many weapons for Rochelle to cover. Jayko’s fourth passing score, a 30-yard throw to Frazier, came with 11 minutes remaining in the game to put the Skyhawks ahead by 18 points. The Hubs gave all they had, but they were unable to come back. Jayko went 18-for-23 with 312 yards for Johnsburg.

“In the end we just made too many mistakes,” Crandall said. “We have to clean that stuff up. We just have to come out and play better next Friday.”