The South Christian Sailors may not have been the preseason favorite in the OK Gold, but their continued offensive performances in the first three weeks would indicate that they will have a say in who wins this conference. On Friday night against the Ottawa Hills Bengals, the Sailors exploded for 51 points to come out with a twenty-seven point victory, moving the team to 3-0.
In a game that featured twelve scoring plays, Ottawa Hills struck first. After recovering a fumble on a punt, Scharai Horton found Hajii Jarrett for an eight yard touchdown in the opening quarter to give the Bengals a 6-0 edge. They would hold this lead throughout the remainder of the first quarter.
The Sailors’ defense would get the scoring started for South when Evan Roedema stepped in front of a pass and went fifteen yards to the end zone. The Sailors would stop Ottawa Hills on fourth down on their next drive, and six plays later Trevor Hansen put South Christian in front. After a two yard touchdown run by Horton made it 14-12, the Sailors responded with another score in the closing seconds of the first half. Ty Rynbrandt found Eli Smith on a twenty three yard pass play to give South Christian a 21-12 edge heading into the locker room.
In the third quarter, South Christian built off this momentum and scored all sixteen points in the quarter. First, Trevor Hansen plunged across the goal line from three yards out to give the Sailors another six points. Daniel Possett would score on South Christian’s next drive, capping off a ten-play march with a two yard run. Late in the third quarter, the Sailors defense added two more points when they tackled Ottawa Hills in the end zone for a safety, moving the score to 37-12.
After the free kick, South Christian just needed three plays to find the end zone. Rynbrandt went twenty eight yards to Eli Smith, the combo’s second strike of the evening. The other South Christian touchdown in the fourth quarter came on a Chandler VanSolkema one yard run. In the fourth quarter, Ottawa Hills scored twelve more points on two additional touchdowns by Scharai Horton.
Horton finished 3/5 for 48 yards and a touchdown through the air, but he had three rushing touchdowns for the Bengals in this one. On the other side, Ty Rynbrandt threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 9/13 passing for the Sailors.
Next week, the Bengals (0-3) will host Middleville in a conference game at Houseman Field. South Christian will hit the road next Friday to take on a pesky Cedar Springs team. That game will be a thriller with OK Gold title implications, and it will be broadcast LIVE on Michigan Sports Radio.
