**ARTICLE BY LIEN VELDBOOM**
The highest-anticipated game in the OK Blue took place this Friday night. The Unity Christian Crusaders and the West Catholic Falcons wrapped up regular season play with high stakes. The OK Blue title would be handed to the winner of the game, so even though both teams were safely in the playoffs, they still put their all into the game. One player, in particular, came to play and was the determining factor. It was all Tim Kloska, who guided his team to a 36-18 win.
The Unity Christian Crusaders looked to be running away with the game in the first quarter, keeping the Falcons out of the end zone. Isaac Stienstra found himself with 2 touchdowns early in the game. The first one came on an 8-yard sprint over the goal line to open up the scoring. This was quickly followed by a 44-yard pass from Mitch Tibbe to Stienstra to give the Crusaders a 15-0 lead.
The Falcons’ offense joined in the scoring frenzy at the beginning of the second with Tim Kloska pushing his way through the defense for a 1-yard gain. Unity Christian drove the ball down the field following West Catholic’s touchdown. They were able to get into field goal range, and Hugo VanderWaal was able to add three to the Crusader’s lead. However, this was the last time Unity Christian was able to put points on the board.
For the rest of the game, West Catholic was able to stop the Crusader’s offense entirely. The offense did its part and scored another four touchdowns in the remaining time. They were all from Kloska who had himself an outstanding last regular season game with the Falcons. His largest run was 69-yards, while the rest were 15, 4, and 7 respectively.
The West Catholic Falcons ended the season with an overall record of 8-1. Their only loss came from the Fruitport Trojans a week ago. The Unity Christian Crusaders ended 5-4 after dropping their non-conference games and two conference games along the way. Both teams will look to make a run for the state title and will eagerly wait for their next opponent in next week’s opening playoff rounds.