As expected, week two of HS football in west Michigan did not disappoint as some of the area’s top teams made big statements with repeat or rebound wins, and others fell in ways that could shake up rankings and opinions across the board (but, should they?)
1st DOWN: ROCKFORD REBOUND
Rockford and Muskegon each went into week two 0-1 for a second-straight season last week and the results of this one were clearly going to drive a lot of sentiments in one way or another win each passionate community.
In the end, it was a Rockford statement win in a huge way. After struggling for less than 40 yards on the ground and less than 80 through the air vs Saline in week one, the Rams offense found it’s groove against what is thought to be a stout and veteran Muskegon defense. The Rams piled on 46 points, all while their defense held the Big Reds to 6.
Muskegon has rebounded from 0-2 to win a state title as recently as 2023, but this big of a loss for a team with a lot of veteran pieces entering OK-Green play will be an interesting turning point to see how they respond.As for Rockford, this was the exact type of statement they needed before entering the OK-Red slate… Coach Cummings’ crew may be posted to re-enter their names in the race for the Red…
2nd DOWN: Broncos Bulldozing
Coopersville vs West Catholic has become a traditional match-up and even maybe a budding rivalry, even post Coopersville leaving the Ok-conference for the Rivers Cities Alliance.
But, this has been a matchup that has been slanted toward the Falcons in recent years, and after a big week one win it seemed like the reigning D5 champs were going to roll into Coopersville vs the D3 Broncos and do it again.
But, NO… Led by a stout (as always) O Line and now sophomore second-year starting QB Champ Kelly, the Broncos rolled on their home turf 41-21 and ended a 14-game WC win streak to boot. A statement win that puts the Broncos likely ion the driver’s seat as favorites to win the RCA and possibly make a deeper run into November than what was already expected out of them.
As for West Catholic… the reigning champs will be fine, but this week did show some of the retooling that they had to do this offseason off. But, with GRCC also failing big to Kenwood Academy out of Illinois, the slate is still even in the west-side race for D5.
3rd DOWN: Bludgeoned Bulldogs
Last week it was a pair of Bulldogs – Grandville and Byron Center – that shot up our rankings for big-time week one wins and looked poised for better-than-expected seasons. And, while that may still be true, each of the ‘Dawgs will be dropping in the Power Poll this week and licking their wounds a bit.
Grandville hosted Cass Tech… Who have become a (clear?) favorite to win the C1 state title, and after keeping it close and even leading in the early 3rd quarter, Grandville struggled down the stretch as stand out Cass RB Julian Taylor ran over the Bulldogs defense while an already battered offense suffered even more key injuries (Grandville was down their top 2 FB options by the end of the game) led to a Cass 48-21 win.
Byron Center was just as impressive (if not more) in week one as they took down Hudsonville, they had another OK-Red rival in week 2, but this time it was East Kentwood that dominated the game from the jump. The Falcons went on to send BC to 1-1 with a 42-14 win.
Both of these games could very well more be statements about the teams that won the games vs the teams that lost them come the end of the season, but both Bulldogs will need to reset into league play (Grandville has those Falcons on deck now, by the way…)
4th DOWN: Knights Right The Ship
After a week of making news and trying to rebound from a tough loss the week prior, it was a week 2 statement for Kenowa Hills in their debut on MSR, as they racked up over 40 to take down a reigning regional finalist in Big Rapids 45-7.
We know that in D4 there are few teams that can match the pure top-end talent the Knights possess and the team’s ability to re focus and light up the scoreboard last week was impressive and proved that they may still be in for one of the biggest seasons in school history if they can continue that type of performance week-after-week.
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That’ll do it for this week’s four downs… Week three begins league play with 15+ huge matchups on MSR as games move to almost exclusively Friday night, tune in!
