By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Grandville was the latest victim of a Rockford rout of the opposition at Carlson-Munger Stadium on Friday, October 9. The Rams never punted and held Grandville off of the scoreboard for the entirety of the contest in a 49-0 Rockford win. In three home contests, Rockford has combined to outscore their opponents by a score of 140-18 and the running clock has been set in motion in every instance. The win moved Rockford’s record to 4-3 on the season and 3-2 in OK Red play. Grandville fell to 2-5 and 1-4 in conference play.
“The preparation all week was very, very good, and then obviously the the offense executed at a high level and we had some quick scores,” said Rockford Head Coach Brent Cummings. “And that puts a ton of pressure on your opponent to respond and the defense really executed when we kept growing the lead and really opened up some things for us on that side of the balas well. Grandville runs a unique offense and the kids really only have that one week to prepare and they put in a lot of work getting ready. Randy VanderVeen has always had a great scheme to defend Grandville and this was just another example of his work.”
The Rams put up seven touchdowns on the night and the shortest score was the final one from 10 yards out on the final score of the night. The Rams got on the board first via an unusual source in the opening quarter. Senior linebacker Wyatt Colson has made only sporadic appearances o offense this year (primarily as a blocker in the wildcat formation.) But on this night the Rams unleashed his potential as a running back and he responded with four carries for 93 yards and a pair of long touchdown runs. In this instance, Colson took a quick dive up the middle for 37 yards as he raced untouched into the end zone to give the Rams a 6-0 lead at the 2:58 mark of the opening quarter. Connor Vanos added the first of his seven consecutive extra points to make it 7-0.
“Wyatt (Colson) is just so valuable to us as a linebacker,” said Cummings. ” He is a heck of an athlete but as the season goes on you have got to put your best players on the field and he has the capability to make plays like we saw him make tonight. We were able to use some of our linebackers tonight offensively and as they get acclimated to learning the playbook more, that opens up their opportunities to have an effect on the game.”
Bryce Miller then made a huge play defensively on the ensuing Grandville possession. The Bulldogs had marched all the way to the Rockford 7 when Miller stepped in front of a pass in the end zone and returned the pick to the Rockford 10. That marked the point when Trey Currie took the controls at quarterback for the Rams after Casen Whitford had started. Currie ran for 17 yards on his first play and followed that up in a big way two plays later. Currie took the snap and dropped back while drifting to his right and floated a screen pass to Trenton Gibbons in the left flat. The sophomore running back gathered the pass in and sped up the left sideline for a 73-yard score to make it 14-0 with 8:07 left in the opening half.
“We were able tonight to rotate our quarterbacks and feature the strengths both of them bring to the table,” said Cummings. “Currie is just a very good runner and still has the ability to really sling the ball around, and Whitford can really put the ball where it needs to be when he is throwing it as well. We have a really good situation at quarterback and they both were executing at a high-level tonight.”
The Rams never let Grandville come close to threatening for the balance of the game while they were just getting started offensively. The next possession for Rockford featured Gibbons doing the honors again for the score. Taking a handoff over the right side, Gibbons made a slight cut left and sped 41-yards for the next Ram score to make it a 21-0 game at the 2:27 point of the second quarter. After forcing a quick three and out from the Grandville offense, Rockford put up another TD to really open up the spigot. This time it was a 10-yard TD pass from Currie to Drew Ferwerda in the right side of the end zone with only :25 left in the first half to make it a 28-0 game.
Grandville tried an onside kick to open the second half but a heads-up play from Breckan Long gave Rockford the ball at the Dawg 49 to start half number two. Colson took the handoff on the initial play and sped those 49 yards to make it 35-0 and put the running clock into effect. The next Ram score was a 12-yard run from Currie to make it a 42-0 contest. The final Ram marker of the night came on a screen pass from Sam Stanton to Hudson Stump that made it 49-0 with 11:11 left in the contest.
Currie led the Ram passing attack by going 6-9 for 142 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Colson led the rushing attack with the aforementioned 93 yards on four carries and a pair of TDs. Gibbons added 75 yards on nine carries and a touchdown, while Currie had 4 carries for 44 yards and a TD as well. Jack Henkel led the receiving corps with three catches for 48 yards while Ferwerda had three for 44 yards and a TD as well.
The Rams will now gear up for another key conference game next week. They will travel to Hudsonville (5-2) to take on the Eagles in a huge game for playoff seeding for both teams. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 P.M. and the winner will have a huge leg up in an effort to get a home game in the first round this year.
