By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Rockford jumped out to a 22-7 lead over West Ottawa at the half on Friday, September 18 in Holland. The Rams then managed to withstand a couple of time-consuming drives from the Panthers in the third and start of the final quarters that shrank the lead to 22-14 and saw West Ottawa threaten to tie things up late. The second of the drives from the Panthers got to the Rockford 11-yard line before the defense stiffened and turned them away.
After the stop, Rockford used only seven plays to march 86 yards and reestablish the two-score lead at 29-14 on an eight-yard jet sweep to the left side by Ram junior wide out Jack Cummings. After suffering through their second loss of the season last week and suffering multiple turnovers, the Rams again enjoyed a contest with no turnovers for their second win of the season. Rockford now stands at 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in OK Red play. West Ottawa fell to 2-2 and 1-1 in conference play.
“We made the switch to Trey (Currie) today at quarterback in an effort to improve ball security,” said Rockford Head Coach Brent Cummings. “It was fun to see him step up and make some plays and to see a more complete effort from the offensive line. We really need the line to keep getting better on a consistent basis and show the dominant force that they are capable of producing on a consistent basis. We made a few personnel switches defensively to try and shore things up in the middle and to try and stop other teams from getting chunk plays. We were pretty successful but still have some opportunities to make strides on that side of the ball as well.”
Rockford wasted no time getting on the board as they too their opening possession 67 yards in ten plays to take an early 7-0 lead. Sophomore running back Trenton Gibbons did the honors from a yard out with a straight power run off the left side. Connor Vanos did the honors on the point after and it was a 7-0 Rockford lead at the 5:49 mark of the opening quarter. After another defensive stop from the Rams, Bryce Miller made a nice return of 21 yards for Rockford that set them up on the Panther 21. Following a delay of game penalty before the initial play, Currie teamed up with Cummings on a well-executed shovel screen pass that Cummings took to the house for another quick Ram TD. Rockford went for two after this score and Gibbons again powered in over the left side to make it a 15-0 game with 4:13 left in the opening quarter.
Interestingly, both of the Panther scores came on fourth down plays. The first was a 49-yard run right up the gut from the quarterback that made it a 15-7 game with only 32 seconds left in the opening quarter. Cummings nearly broke the ensuing kickoff all the way back but the Rams were unable to take advantage of the great field position. But another nice return from Miller gave the ball to Rockford at the Panther 49. Reed Dommenick capped off the drive with a 15-yard run right up the middle for the score for the Rams. Vanos added the PAT and it was a 22-7 game with 7:36 left in the half.
The Rams offense stagnated for a while after that as they dropped a TD pass and had another long score called back on an illegal shift. So, there is still plenty left on the table for the Rams to eliminate mistakes. The Panthers actually started to move the ball consistently on the Rams at that juncture. They got down to the Rockford 7 before being turned away on an incomplete pass on fourth down with their final drive of the first half. They then marched 61-yards to score on their initial drive of the second half. The score again came on a fourth down play with a 36-yard scoring pass on fourth and 14. That made it a 22-14 game and the sizable home contingent really got their hopes up when they again went on a lengthy drive in an effort to tie things up. But that was the point where the Rockford defense turned them away after they got to the 11.
Currie had suffered an injury on the previous drive and Casen Whitford assumed the controls for Rockford as they looked to get out of the shadow of their own end zone. Whitford hit Cummings with a key 23-yard third down completion before Cummings completed a huge night with the aforementioned 8-yard score. The Vanos PAT made it a 29-14 score and sophomore Liam Kropf came up with an impressive interception for Rockford to stymie a deep pass attempt for the Panthers. The game then concluded with the Rams applying consistently fierce pressure to keep the Panthers at bay.
“I was very proud of how Casen (Whitford) and the decisions he made moving the offense,” said Cummings. “It isn’t easy coming in cold and he made some great reads and checkdowns to keep the offense moving.”
Next week, the Rams return home for only the second time this season. The opponent will be the Grand Haven Buccaneers, who also stand at 2-2 following their loss to East Kentwood tonight. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 P.M.
