By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Rockford struggled a bit offensively in the middle of the 2024 season. The Rams put up only 35 points in a two-game stretch against Hudsonville and Jenison. But since then, it has been a cascade of points for a Ram team that has been prolific on the ground, through the air and on special teams. Rockford has put up 173 points in the last four games for an average of over 43 points per game. This time around the victim was a solid East Kentwood squad that came into the contest with a 5-3 record and harbored hopes of snatching home field from Rockford in the first round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association playoffs. But the Rams were less than gracious guests as they scored nearly at will to claim a 45-27 win in a contest that was not nearly that close.
“It was great to wrap up the season like this and we were very proud of the kids and the way they responded,” said Rockford Coach Brent Cummings. “Mid-season they took a couple of defeats and they just made their intentions to grow and and come back each week a better team. And so as a coaching staff, we couldn’t be prouder of these kids and how they just continue to battle it. It is a fun group that shows up to practice every single day and we are just excited to get some rest and relaxation this weekend and come back Monday ready to go and prepare for some playoff football.”
For the third week in a row Rockford surrendered a touchdown on their opponents opening drive to fall into a early 7-0 hole. But that would be the high-water mark for the Falcons as Rockford ripped off the next 31 points to firmly grasp control of the game. The opening snap for Rockford featured senior standout two-way player Isaac Poot taking a handoff and going 70 yards while breaking a few tackles and spinning his way to the end zone. Chase Vogt added the first of his five extra points and it was a 7-7 contest at the 8:04 mark of the opening quarter. The next possession for the Rams featured a 36-yard screen pass from Brayden Daniels to Mikey DeKuiper that set the Rams up deep in Falcon territory. Poot again did the honors with a one-yard plunge to give the Rams a 14-7 lead at the 8:16 mark of the second quarter.
The Ram defense held again on the next possession and Rockford struck quickly to stretch their lead to 21-7. It took only two plays in the drive for Rockford as Daniels hooked up with tight end Blake Linsley on a well-conceived drag route that netted 42 yards and set the Rams up at the Falcon two. Daniels went the final two yards on the next snap and it was 21-7 with 4:36 left in the half. Vogt added a final play of the half 33-yard field goal to make it a 24-7 contest at the half.
The Rams received the second half kickoff and wasted no time again building on that lead. Daniels connected with wide receiver Lucas Pitsch on a 24-yard pass that got the Rams to the Falcon 22. On the next snap Poot burst through the middle for the 22-yard TD that made it a 31-7 game with 10:28 left in quarter number three. The Rams appeared to put the game right on the verge of a running clock on their next drive but despite appearing to break the plane of the goal line on consecutive carries, the officials ruled they did not and marked the ball literally at the one-inch line. The Falcons then marched to a 99-plus yard TD of their own on a double pass that completely fooled the Rockford defense. They then went for two but were denied to make it a 31-13 Ram lead.
Daniels and Poot then teamed up with alternating carries with Daniels going the final yard to make it a 38-13 game with only 25 seconds left.in the third. Daniels connected with DeKuiper again on a long pass to set the team up for their next TD. This time it was a beautifully thrown pass from Daniels that hit Linsley in stride for a 27-yard TD pass and completed the scoring for the Rams and made it a 45-13 game. Two late EK scores made things a bit more respectable for the Falcons but only aesthetically took away from the dominance of Rockford.
“Jason VanderLaan and our offensive staff work really well together and know how to decipher a defense and come up with a game plan,” said Cummings. ” They have some of those things they can go to to spark big plays. He is very crafty at it and our offensive coaches work really hard to put kids in the right position. We had two starters out on the offensive line and our number two kids learn from some great senior leadership. They get equal numbers of repetitions as the starters and they capitalized on them tonight. You coud see it tonight where we had two guys that came off that orange squad and played really well.”
Daniels was 10 for 16 passing for 212 yards and a touchdown. Poot rand for 165 yards on 15 carries and added three touchdowns. Daniels accounted for 46 yards on 10 attempts and a pair of touchdowns and Tommy Becker added 24 yards on 7 carries as well. Linsley had a big game receiving with three catches for 100 yards and a TD. Dekuiper had 56 on two catches and Pitsch added 35 on three catches. Poot had a pair of catches for 21 yards to further pad his stats. Sophomore linebacker Wyatt Colston again led the defense with 13 tackles with Luke Ahern just behind with 11 stops. Reed Binney, Andrew Hambleton and Poot added 7, 6, and 5 respectively.
Rockford will almost certainly be hosting a game in the opening round of the playoffs next week. There are two schools of thought as to where they may end up. They may stay in an all OK Red district with some combination of Hudsonville, Grandville, Jenison or East Kentwood. Ot they may also head east with one of the OK Red teams and possibly Grand Ledge and Howell. The final results will be known on Subday, October 28.
The win left Rockford with an overall mark of 7-2 (5-2 OK Red) and marked a state record of 30 consecutive appearances in the playoffs for the Rams. East Kentwood finished the regular season with a record of 5-4 and will also await their assignment in the playoffs.
