Photo Credit: Eric Tuori

The West Catholic Falcons and Coopersville Broncos battled on Friday night as undefeated teams. It was a fantastic game in which Coopersville built an early lead, but West Catholic roared back to win 28-24.

Dylan Merlo got Coopersville started with a receiving touchdown of 41 yards from the arm of Colton Bosch. On the ensuing kick, Coopersville squibbed it and recovered the football. This extra possession led to a 22-yard field goal by Evan Raymond, a 10-0 lead the Broncos maintained after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, Coopersville struck first, as Bosch found Ryan Serba for a 33-yard touchdown pass. West Catholic finally responded as Noah Arsulowicz rushed for a 12-yard score. Coopersville would respond with a pass of 23 yards from Bosch to Merlo, giving the Broncos a 24-7 lead at halftime.

The second half saw West Catholic come out firing on all cylinders. They scored 21 unanswered points to capture the victory. After being bottled up for the first half, Tim Kloska got going in the second half. He ripped off a 12-yard touchdown run to pull the Falcons within ten. Ryan Rinehart would catch the pass thrown right to him, and he raced 45 yards for an interception return.

In the fourth quarter, Elliot Zainea scored on a 3-yard run to give West Catholic the lead. Coopersville got the football back with 5:35 to play, trailing by four. The Broncos took 17 plays, marching all the way down to the 3-yard line. Facing third down and goal, the snap shot right through Bosch’s hands. He recovered the football, but all the way back at the fifteen yard line. On fourth and goal, their pass attempt was incomplete, sealing their fate.

Despite a slow first half, Tim Kloska finished with 30 carries and 177 yards. Noah Arsulowicz rushed for a score as well, and he finished 8/15 passing for 88 yards.

Coopersville was led by Colton Bosch, who was 12/33 passing for 214 yards and 3 touchdowns. Dylan Merlo caught two of those scores, tallying 64 yards, and Ryan Serba caught the third with a 7-catch, 82-yard performance.

West Catholic now sits at 6-0 on the season with this victory. They will take on Unity Christian in one of the most-anticipated games of the regular season. Coopersville, 5-1, has another tall test with Spring Lake on the clock.