The Grand Rapids Catholic Central Cougars are winners of State Championships in each of the past two seasons. With signal caller Joey Silveri leading this offense, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t contend for a third consecutive crown. As OK Gold play began on Friday night against Forest Hills Eastern, Silveri tossed seven touchdowns, all in the first half, to propel the team to a 62-0 victory.

In the first quarter, GRCC scored a trio of touchdowns. First, Silveri found Nolan Zeigler on a 40-yard strike just three minutes into the game. At the midway point of the opening frame, Silveri tossed his second score, connecting with Joe Mullett on a 48-yard completion. The third passing score in the quarter was a 19-yard ball thrown toward Ronin Russell-Dixon. This gave GRCC a 21-0 lead after twelve minutes.

The second quarter saw more of the same for the Cougars. Just seventy seconds into the frame, Silveri found Carter Meerman on a 7-yard completion. Three minutes later, Silveri’s fifth touchdown came on a 28-yard completion to Devin Fridley-Bell. After a quick defensive stop, the lead grew by another seven points. Silveri and Meerman paired up on a 10-yard ball that went for a touchdown. With two minutes to go in the first half, Joey Silveri tossed his seventh touchdown on a 62-yard deep ball to Fridley-Bell. This aerial attack gave GRCC a 49-0 lead heading into the locker room.

In the second half, with the running clock in effect, the Cougars still managed to score two touchdowns. After being held scoreless in the third quarter, Connor Wolf tossed a touchdown with nine minutes to play. Wolf found Carter Meerman, and this 62-yard touchdown was Meerman’s third of the game. Billy Mikolay wrapped up the GRCC scoring with a 2-yard touchdown plunge with 2:29 to play.

Joey Silveri was 16/24 with 250 yards and 7 touchdowns in this game. Tonight, he passed Cooper Rush, Travis Russell, Jon Wassink and Mill Coleman to climb into 7th place on the career passing touchdown leaderboard.

Carter Meerman led the receivers with 83 yards on four catches, three of which went for touchdowns. The GRCC defense was stellar, holding FHE to just 98 yards of total offense. Joe Mullet led the way with 6 tackles, while Ronin Russell-Dixon, Jack Cook and Jack Klafeta each added 5 tackles.

Next week, Grand Rapids Catholic Central will take on South Christian, the team that gave them the most fits a year ago. Forest Hills Eastern (1-2) will look to bounce back against Middleville.