See Alex Achenbach Run.

Run. Run. Run.

That was the theme all night long for the Rough Riders in the 34-20 loss to host Williams Valley in their opening-round, district Class 2A playoff game last Saturday night.

Achenbach, a Williams Valley senior, ran for 295 yards on 36 carries and scored three touchdowns, as the host Vikings recorded 339 yards on 50 carries on the night. Achenbach set new school career records with 6,549 rushing yards and 80 touchdowns.

The Roughies scored on the game’s third offensive play when quarterback Aiden Hess hit Ian Juica on a 14-yard pass to help them take a 7-0 lead. Catty was down 14-7 at halftime, but Williams Valley took control behind Achenbach’s touchdown runs of 57, seven, and nine years to help his team to a commanding 34-14 lead.

The loss ended the Roughies season, as they finished their year and postseason with an overall 6-5 record. Catty advanced to the district championship game last season, losing to Executive Education in the game’s final seconds.

The Roughies will host Northampton on Thanksgiving morning in the 100th meeting between the two teams.

Until then, the Roughies can lament on their loss.

Over the past few years, the Roughies’ glowing defensive weakness has been stopping the big back.

“We had trouble stopping him,” said Roughies’ head coach Travis Brett. “He is a heckava player and made a lot of plays for them. He makes positive plays out of nothing. There were times when we had him bottled up, and he broke free for extra yardage.

“We started off strong, but we did not execute throughout the game. We had those two fumbles where we had opportunities, but we didn’t take advantage of those.”

Hess was 14-of-31 for 172 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions. Juica caught eight passes for 83 yards with a score, and running back Hunter Reitz rushed for 91 yards on 12 carries.

Reitz watched his team lose control of the game.

“Throughout the whole game, our offensive and defensive lines got handled pretty easily,” he stressed. “We were not able to keep contain on the edges.

“I thought we had pretty good success on the ground, but abandoned it early in the second half. We didn’t control the time of possession and gave them the ball back way too many times.”