By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Rockford entered step two of a brutal three-game stretch to begin the 2024 football season and carried on their winning ways with a deceptively solid win over traditional power Muskegon at Carlson-Munger Stadium in Rockford on Friday, September 6. Coupled with another excellent win over Detroit Cass Tech the previous week, the Rams now stand at 2-0 on the young season as they prepare to kick off OK Red play against another stalwart club in Grandville. That contest will also be at Rockford on Friday, September 13 at 7:00 P.M.
Rockford managed to build a 28-7 lead with less than two minutes remaining and the outcome all but decided. But Rockford opted to substitute liberally over the final two minutes and Muskegon left in their starters and scored on a 52-yard run with 1:38 to play to make it 28-13 after an unsuccessful conversion. The Big Reds then recovered an onside kick and scored on a 15-yard pass with only 30 seconds to play. Coupled with a successful conversion this time around it was unexpectedly a 28-21 game with another onside kick on tap. This time however the Rams jumped on the squib and successfully ran out the clock for the win.
“Our receivers continue to run great routes and get open to set up our offensive attack,” said Rockford Head Coach Brent Cummings. “They work very hard at it and Jax (Eichbauer) really started to show what he is capable of tonight. Each week we are getting another guy that is stepping up. That is the way we like it and the way that coach O’Brien wants to get multiple players involved. Isaac (Poot) is a great player who is fun to watch and is a team captain and he showed everybody his talents from multiple perspectives again tonight. We rely on him to do just that but at the same time we have multiple other guys pitching in at running back for us and we are very happy with that position.”
Poot got the game started with a bang as he took a handoff up the gut and went 75 yards untouched to give the Rams a quick 7-0 lead at the 8:56 mark of the opening quarter. Rockford again started gaining chunk yards on their second possession but an interception deep in Muskegon territory stymied that drive. Muskegon managed to tie things up on their opening drive of the second quarter with a 21-yard TD pass. And just like that, despite dominating the game the Rams found themselves in a 7-7 contest.
But the Rams managed to take a 14-7 lead into the locker room at the half as Brayden Daniels hooked up with Hayden Richlin on a 21-yard TD pass on a fourth and thirteen play. Richlin started on a jet sweep look and quickly darted up the field where he emerged all alone on a beautifully designed play. That was how the half ended with Rockford holding the 14-7 lead.
Rockford received the second half kickoff and got deep in Muskegon territory before turning the ball over on downs. The defense quickly forced a three and out from Muskegon and the Rams began their second possession at the Rockford 48. Rockford overcame three penalties this time around and scored again on another well-designed play. Facing a second and goal play from the 13, Daniels rolled left before dumping a short pass to Kade Friesen. Friesen gathered the ball in and quickly sped up field. He was met by a defender at the five but shrugged him off and thundered into the end zone to make it 21-7 Rams with 2:18 to play in the third quarter.
Rockford again managed to overcome more mistakes on their next scoring drive. After getting hit with an intentional grounding penalty that had them staring at a third and goal from the Big Red 13, Daniels floated a beautiful touch pass to Eichbauer for the TD that made it a 28-7 tilt with 11:20 remaining in the game. That set the stage for the unexpected late flurry from Muskegon that saw the contest end in a 28-21 Ram win.
“We really played assignment football for pretty much the whole game defensively tonight,” said Cummings. “Everyone did their one-eleventh and performed the way that Randy (VanDerVeen) coached them to do against a veer offense. If you take away that little blurb there at the end it was just a great effort against another good team that we knew was going to give us their best shot. We are very excited to be 2-0 and look forward to another great game next week against another excellent team in Grandville.”
