Rockford suffered their first defeat of the season at Hudsonville on Friday, September 20 by the score of 28-21. Rpckford found themselves trailing 21-0 after the opening drive of the second half for Hudsonville resulted in their third TD of the game. But rather than put their collective heads between their legs and go down in resounding fashion, the Rams reached deep and rallied to within 28-21 in the middle of the fourth quarter. They then gained possession for an improbable attempt to tie things up with two minutes to play. Brayden Daniels floated a picture-perfect pass to Jax Eichbauer into triple coverage on a fourth down and twenty play from the Ram nine that got them into Hudsonville territory. That raised the hopes of a sizable Rockford contingent that they would be able to forge a tie.
But after grounding a pass to stop the clock, a pair of incompletions followed by a sack ran the clock out on the spirited Ram rally. Sacks were an issue for the entirety of the contest for Rockford as Daniels was sacked a total of six times and harassed countless other times by an aggressive Eagle defense that really came out of the blocks on every passing attempt. The other glaring problem for Rockford was their inability to stop a rushing attack from Hudsonville that amassed over 340 yards and ate considerable chunks of time off of the game clock as the Eagles really stressed ball control and limiting Rockford’s chances.
“I felt like our guys were ready for the stems and different movements that Hudsonville throws at you defensively,” said Rockford Head Coach Brent Cummings. “But they did a good job of creating confusion. And those are the things we will have to go back and look at the next time and if you face them again you will be more prepared for that scheme. We know that we are going to go back and see some things on film that we need to really improve on defensively as well. The defensive line and linebacker play, well really the entire defense just allowed them to really take it to us for a good chunk of the game. The opening drive of the second half when they just marched it straight down the field for a score to make it a 21-0 game is just something that you can’t let happen. But they had a great game plan, protected the ball and played great defense. They are a very good team and all the credit in the world goes to them for how they performed tonight.”
The entire first half was a study in frustration for Rockford offensively as they could get absolutely nothing going. The deepest penetration for the Rams in that time frame was the Eagle 24. The Rockford defense played pretty well in the opening half save for a crucial roughing the passer penalty on Rockford that turned a fourth-down and 21 play into a first down at the Rockford 17 for the Eagles. They punched it in four plays later to take a quick 7-0 lead. The rest of the half was a slog both ways save for a huge Hudsonville run as they appeared to just be trying to run out the clock in the opening half. With less than a minute to play the Eagles handed off a simple trap play that saw the back emerge unscathed into the secondary as he sped 54 yards for a TD that made it a 14-0 contest at the half.
Hudsonville received the opening kick of the second half and quickly marched right up the field to make it a 21-0 game at the 8:22 point of the third quarter. The Rams proceeded to show their pride and resiliency at that point to completely turn around the tenor of the game. Starting from their own 20 they advanced the ball to the Eagle 49 to set up their opening score. Daniels dropped back and tossed a quick hook pass to Lucas Pitsch for about five yards. Pitsch deftly turned and lateralled the ball to a streaking Isaac Poot and he easily outraced the Eagle secondary to complete the 49-yard hook and ladder that made it a 21-7 game at the 5:37 mark of the third stanza. That play injected some life into the Rams and the defense forced a quick three-and-out from Hudsonville. Rockford took over at their own 44 and four plays later Daniels took it 34 yards straight up the middle to make it 21-14 with 1:44 remaining in the third quarter.
The Rams then recovered a fumble to stymie another Eagle drive but could do nothing with it and quickly punted the ball back to the Eagles. Once again, an ill-timed penalty against Rockford set the Eagles into prime position and a 7-yard TD run made it 28-14 with only 7:53 left in the game. Rockford responded with a score of their own before the crowd had stopped discussing the previous Eagle TD. On the first play from scrimmage following the Eagle score Daniels dropped back to pass. He fired a quick hook and go to Jax Eichbauer who proceeded to cause a missed tackle from the lone Eagle defender and sprinted 65 yards to make it 28-21 with 7:36 still to play.
That left only the final two possessions of the game and the Rams came up just short in the end and fell 28-21. The final horn marked a series of firsts for both teams. For Rockford, it was their first regular season loss since 2019. It was also the first regular season loss for Cummings at Rockford since he took over in 2020. For Hudsonville, t was their first victory over Rockford since 2016.
“This will be a great opportunity for our guys to reflect back and see how important it is to be ready from the start of a game,” said Cummings. “I think this will prove to be a great learning experience for our team and we will benefit from the lessons learned down the road.”
Both teams now stand at 3-1 on the season and the Rams fell to 1-1 in league play while the Eagles improved to 2-0. The Rams will return to action against Jenison at Carlson-Munger Stadium on Friday, September 27 as they look to get back on the wining track.
