This Week on MGN – Week 5

The halfway point of the 2021 regular season is already in sight and will be past us by the time the games are in the books across Michigan Friday night. And, week five will present some awesome matchup across the area as the jockeying for conference crowns and playoff position will continue to intensify. For Game Night – we have a really fascinating matchup on our airwaves this week as Grandville looks to get back in the win column in a homecoming border war vs.  Jenison.

There’s plenty to go over in this one – But, if you want to tune in remember to check out the Michigan Game Night page here on MSR for the details, as we go on the air at 6:30 with our ‘enhanced-radio’ coverage. Also, great news for Grandville home games for the rest of this season – via Grandville our audio will also be played on a YouTube livestream of the game (We will link the broadcast on MichiganSportsradio.com/MGN).

As always – along with the rest of this article, make sure you check out this week’s MGN Football Tailgate Report, as we break down last week, preview this week, talk with Grandville HC Eric Steigel, and much more!

Week 4 Recap – Grandville/Rockford and MGN G.O.T.W (UC/Allendale)

Before we get into some of the intracacies of this week’s game that will be featured live on MGN, let’s look back at the 2 games of interest we featured last weekend.

Rockford 53, Grandville 46 (2OT)

Well, they did it again – Possibly the most bitter rivalry in the OK-Red (and if not, among the most) produces a second straight multi-OT clash with late game heroics on either side to save their game.

For the Bulldogs, after an off-night offensively putting up only 14 points vs. Caledonia, their Power-T attack roared back into life to keep up with Zak Ahern and the high-flying Rams offense. Cade Pilczuk, continued his incredible performance, returning to football for the first time in 2 seasons- the Bulldogs Sr. tailback put up over 300 yards rushing and 4 TDs. Meanwhile Tyson Mann did it all, brining back the opening kickoff along with adding a score on the ground and receiving one later in the evening.

The Bulldogs, despite falling to 1-3 (due in large part (or in entirety) to their front-loaded schedule) put together one of the more impressive performances out of anyone, as they erased a late 2 score deficit in the 4th vs. possibly the top team in West Michigan. And, the Bulldogs would have picked up a regulation win if it weren’t for a missed extra point that kept the game tied in the final seconds. Unbelievably, the Rams would miss an XP in OT as well to bring on the second period where the Bulldogs would ultimately fall short – Check out the terrific game recap or check out the on-demand broadcast with Brock Konkle & Co. for more on this thriller.

MGN Game of the Week – Unity Christian 46, Allendale 7

A game that may have not had quite the same nail-biting finish, but was still consequential in the end was our first G.O.T.W of the season.  As our MGN crew saw the true power of Unity Christian unfold in a game that was a runaway from the start as the Unity offense ended every drive with the game in the balance in the endzone, and despite some solid movement primarily through Sr RB Cole DiPiazza – The Falcons filed to convert points on any drive until the game had become academic late.

The Unity offense showed how deep, balanced, and scary it can be –  Micah Bush, our  Centennial Securities Player of the Game led the team in rushing and had 2 TDs (along with a ton of big plays on the other side of the ball from his LB position). Cam and Drew Chandler matched the type of performance expected from them as well – each rushing for a TD and connecting with each other on a long 2nd Quarter TD pass.

In total, we learned that we should expect to see more of this team on MGN going ahead, Unity Chrisitan will be one of (if not the main) the featured teams on our playoff Game of the Week coverage later this fall.

Week 5 Preview – Grandville vs. Jenison

A 1-3 vs. 1-3 border war between two teams each coming off heartbreaking losses vs. bitter rivals in week 4 sets up what should be a great one on Grandville homecoming. The Tailgate Report does the best job breaking thing down, so – we’ll just go over some of the key players and things to look out for here.

Jenison Wildcats

The ‘Cats come in off a 23-22 heartbreaker at home vs. Hudsonville, where they had what would have been a walk-off game-winning field goal tipped just enough to push it wide, and cede a 1-point loss after the Eagles pulled of a late score to take the advantage.

Caleb Dean, the Sr do-it-all man for the Wildcats will be the main name to keep an eye on all night. He’ll play everything from SB and RB on offense to DB on defense to kicking and punting duties, while bringing kicks and punts back as well for Coach Rob Zeitman. Dean has found the end zone 7 times on the ground and twice more through the air this season.

Coach Zeitman runs a varied ‘ski-gun’ type offense, heavily using various read and triple option plays and mixing up personnel and formations to keep the defense off-balance. Sr Carter VanManen returns as the signal-caller that will have to help cleanly run the different option looks as well as push the ball down the field to speedsters (like Dean) in the pass game.

Grandville Bulldogs

We went over the impact that Pilczuk and Mann each had on the game last week, expect to see them play the same sort of role this week again. But, also look for an X-factor in Domonic Osborn – the hard-running Sr took over the Fullback duties and ran very well in a position that has seen some turnover this season in efforts to fins a combination to replace 3-yr starter Cam Terry.

Also look for the Bulldogs pass game to come to life again this week, Ian Sanders went 6-14 with a TD pass last week and against an aggressive Jenison defense that uses a base 5-man front, there could be some opportunities off play action and straight roll-outs to hit targets like Mann down field.

We’ll also be keeping up with the chess match that the Bulldogs multiple defense will be playing against that varied Jenison attack, it really could be one of the more fun battles to watch in terms of changing matchups, personnel and positioning at we see all year long.

Tune In

6:30pm on Friday, go to the Michigan Game Night page (MichiganSportsRadio.com/MGN) where we have our enhanced radio feed embedded into the page (also found on the MSR Listen Live page and app), along with a link to the Grandville YouTube stream that we will be plugging our audio into (like we did last winter for basketball).

 

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