By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
On the surface the contest between Rockford and East Kentwood doesn’t seem to carry much weight. Both squads have already clinched a berth in the 2024 Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs with Rockford at 6-2 and East Kentwood at 5-3. In addition, the league title has already been claimed by Hudsonville so positioning at that level is semi-important at best. But the winner of this game will almost certainly clinch homefield in the opening round of the playoffs, and it could very well be a rematch between the same two squads depending on how playoff points breakdown between Rockford, East Kentwood and Grandville. Hudsonville will be the top seed and Rockford will either be second or third seed and that is all that is settled thus far.
East Kentwood has had only one winning season since 2018 and that was a 6-5 record in 2019. The Falcons decided to do something to reinvigorate the program in 2024 and they went all in by hiring Tyrone Spencer as the new head coach. Spencer comes with an impressive resume that includes having been the coach at Detroit Martin Luther King High School from 2016 to 2023. Spencer racked up four state championships to go along with an overall mark of 82-23. He also helped develop a bevy of NCAA Division 1 athletes who populate rosters around the country.
The Falcons have claimed wins over Hartland, Caledonia, West Ottawa, Jenison and Grand Haven thus far. Their three losses are to very talented teams from Hudsonville, Byron Center and Grandville. They are averaging 26 points per game while surrendering 21. They are also coming off one of their best performances of the year after they throttled Jenison 31 to 7 last week. Jenison had stunned Rockford earlier in the year and was by no means a gimme for EK. The Rams conversely are averaging 33 ppg and allowing 19. The Rams are coming off of their two highest scoring games of the year after putting up 45 and 49 points against West Ottawa and Grand Haven respectively.
The two teams have met 57 times previously with Rockford holding a narrow 31-26 lead head-to-head. The Falcons dominated the series for years before the Rams turned the tables over the past three decades. Rockford pounded EK last year to the tune of a 55-0 victory but you only have to go back to 2019 for the last Falcon triumph. That year saw Rockford win the regular season finale 17-7 before East Kentwood pummeled Rockford 38-12 in the rematch the following week.
East Kentwood has brought in several transfers in 2024 led by South Christian quarterback Kayd Coffman. He is joined by Grand Rapids Union athletes Jesse Phillips (running back) and Syncere Hobson (lineman). Elijah Jones is the featured back and leads an attack that is comfortable both passing and running depending on the situation. Most of the returning starters for EK come on the defensive side of the ball. They are led by safety Gabe Wolf and linebacker Silas Mitchell, who are both returning starters for the Falcons. Linebacker Terrence Kabanda and defensive linemen Matthias Granderson, Nouha Diate, Charlie Nichols and Andrew Durr are also returning starters from last year.
Kickoff is slated for 7:00 P.M. on Friday, October 25. You can watch this game at michigansportsradio.com
