At halftime of this week’s games we will somehow already be to the halfway point of the 2024 HS football regular season, but things are just starting to ramp up. And, after a wild week 4 that featured plenty of upsets and statement wins – week 5 will have some big shoes to fill, and our live games this week on MSR might just fill them…
ZEELAND WEST (4-0) vs UNITY CHRISTIAN (4-0)
A battle of unbeatens. A battle of championship contenders. A battle of OK-Gold frontrunners. And a battle of power T master, half of fame head coaches. This may be one of the classic games of the season, John Shillito’s Dux were able to grind out a tough 28-13 win over their district rival Zeeland East in the ‘Bird Bowl’ last Friday, and did so without their star QB/FS Trey Sloothaak in. the process.
Craig Tibbe’s Unity Christian Crusaders put together maybe their most impressive win of the season, taking down reigning D3 champion FHC by three scores in their OK-Gold Opener. The ‘Saders offense has rolled so far, putt sign up 37+ points in all of their games.
Look for the X’s and O’s battle all night long in this one, which coach will be the first to ‘break the T’ and show a wing T or different look than the standard straight Power T these two run. Also, both teams can pop big plays with the passing game, the health and status of Trey Sloothaak for West will be big to monitor, as he is a 2-way game changer that leads the secondary as an all-state safety and changes the dynamic of the offense with his arms and legs, sophomore Drew Albrecht will again draw in opposite Jackson DeHoop for UC at QB for the Dux if Sloothaak is inactive.
COOPERSVILLE (3-1) vs GREENVILLE (1-3)
Coopersville has very nicely rebounded from their week two loss, taking both of their first two games in the Rivers Cities Alliance Conference – Most recently they doubled up Sparta 42-21 on Friday night. Greenville picked up their first win of the season last week over Allendale, 35-7.
This will be a game that will likely be won on the ground, Coopersville is well known as one of the most physical teams in the area that wins in the trenches and power run concepts. Greenville also will look to control the ground game, but they have done it through more of a spread option type look with motion and option plays out of the gun/pistol – somewhat similar to the ‘Ski-Gun’ look at Muskegon/Mona Shores. If the game is a stalemate on the ground, QB Beau Harris for Coops will be the X-Factor with his arm, looking to break some things open down the field and maybe open up even more room in the run game as things go on.
FREELAND (4-0) vs ALMA (1-3)
With a 61-6 win over Flint Powers Catholic last Friday, Freeland has continued to fully cement themselves as one of the true powers in division four this year. They will look to continue their ‘reign of terror’ as they see a 1-3 Alma team that its coming off their first win of the season over Bridgeport last week.
The Falcons will be a tough team to crack on both sides of the ball for Alma, The Falcons are now averaging 48.25 points per game on offense and have given up a total of 12 points in 4 games – with two shutouts. Freeland and coach Townsend’s dynamic run game and suffocating defense will likely be in position to roll again in this one. We’ll see Alma can pull a big upset on the road and upset the order among the state’s elite in D4.
CENTRAL MONTCALM (3-1) vs BERRIEN SPRINGS (2-2)
Central Montcalm continued to impress last weekend, as they defeated Morley-Stanwood in big, shutout fashion – winning 49-0. The Hornets lone loss came in a one-score game vs. an unbeaten and rolling Newaygo team, so the Hornets are being proven as a real contender in the CSAA-White.
Berrien Springs will host the traveling Hornets on homecoming in Shamrocks country, Springs has played a tough schedule to a 2-2 mark this season. The Shamrocks have won two in-a-row as well, also picking up a huge win over Niles Brandywine last Friday 63-16. This game will have an interesting X’s and O’s chess match to watch, Central Montcalm has been a little bit more of a power-based team leaning on a veteran front line and Berrien Springs has a pretty balances attack that hasn’t been afraid to also spread things out and throw the ball some, a lower scoring game won up front in more of a physical struggle may likely benefit the Hornets, and their week-by-week improving defense.
SOUTH CHRISTIAN (4-0) vs FOREST HILLS CENTRAL (3-1)
How about another great one at the top of the OK-Gold (something we will see a lot of this year). South Christian has been rolling this year and QB Carson Vis has led the high-powered offense in elite fashion all the way to the 6’4 WMU basketball commit now getting very deserved Mr. Football attention. The reigning D3 champion Rangers lost their first of the season to Unity Christian last week in an unbeaten battle 43-20.
FHC is going to be hungry and could have the defensive firepower to slow the so far unstoppable Sailors offensive advance. This game may be somewhat straightforward in terms if what each team is looking for, if this game turns into an offensive shootout, it will likely favor the high flying passing spread Sailors offense, and if the game turns into a slog – nobody wins defensive battles more than the Rangers, until the Crusaders T broke through last week – FHC allowed a total of 24 points the first three weeks.
The Sailors defense will be looking to show off their improvement for another week as well, they gave up 4+ scores the first three weeks of the year and only 6 points last week – they will look for more of the same to match the offense.
HUDSONVILLE (3-1) vs EAST KENTWOOD (3-1)
It’s the battle everyone expected between the top two unbeaten teams at the top of the OK-Red, as Rockford and Grandville… oh wait… East Kentwood and Hudsonville have each shown out to begin conference play this year and now sit as the top two and only 2-0 teams in the red through the first two weeks, already each having marquee wins to their name – They now play a huge game at Kentwood that will allow the winner to control their own destiny to win the OK-Red.
Hudsonville fell the first week of the year to Howell, a team that is 4-0 in their own right and a top-10 team. After that… the Eagles knocked of 2023 D2 semifinalist East Lansing, easily beat a resurgent Jenison and then… ended Rockford’s 37 game regular season winning streak, dating back to the 2019 season. The Eagles are dynamic on both sides of the ball, armed with a stout defense and a multi-headed power rushing attack dotted with dangerous weapons like Carson Dykstra at WR that can rip the game wide open.
New coach Ty Spencer has immediately injected life into East Kentwood and proven the Falcons are ready to win, immediately. Junior QB Kayd Coffman has a D1 offer and is gaining some power 4 interest with his play as of late, as the Falcons offense has helped power them to wins over Caledonia and West Ottawa to open conference play. While the focus may be on the offense for many, it has been the defense that also has been a leading unit for the Falcons, they picked up a week one shutout vs Hartland, and allowed 7 vs. West Ottawa in last week’s win. This likely will be a lower scoring game if both coaches have their way keeping the game under control, but EK has already proven they can have higher scoring back-and-forth games vs. Byron Center and Caledonia, so if one team opens it up, it will likely be the Falcons – But, the Eagles have the fire power to match them.
GR CATHOLIC CENTRAL (3-1) vs OTTAWA HILLS (0-4)
Catholic Central was able to get back on track last week, after the game started tight early with both teams putting an early score on the board, the Cougars ran away from T.K., and earned a 41-6 win over the Trojans. CC went back to the ground game to win this one, as Kamall Hillard led the way with 3 touchdowns and over 100 yards in the win.
Ottawa Hills is off to a tough start, Evan Abberger and threw for 5 Holland Christian touchdowns last week in a 51-8 win that dropped the Bengals to 0-4. This could be a good chance for the Cougars freshman QB Odin Spencer to air it out a little bit and match some of the passing number that the pass first Maroons were able to put up on the Bengals.
KENT CITY (3-1) vs TRI-COUNTY (3-1)
A battle of 3-1 CSAA teams crossing over divisions at Tri-County this week that features both teams with plenty of motivation. Kent City has won three in-a-row after a week one loss to Newaygo, and look to keep that momentum going. Newaygo also is the only loss for the Vikings – as Tri-County fell last week to the Lions 42-39 – in a game that was played over two days after a weather delay Friday night.
Tri-County has become a team known for running over opponents and winning the ground advantage over the past few seasons, especially in games that they win. Last week it was an old-school run system from the Newaygo flexbone that was able to run to 42 points and a win over the Vikings. This week Kent City’s power T will be the unit to take on Tri-County – so once again get ready for a game won or lost on the ground and in the trenches, we’ll see if Kent City will keep rolling, or if the Vikings can get an immediate bounce back.
ROCKFORD (3-1) vs JENISON (1-3)
For the first time since 2019 the Rockford Rams lost a regular season game last week, as their comeback came 6 points short vs. Hudsonville and left the Rams looking for a rare bounce-back win this week. Jenison lost a high-scoring back-and-forth thriller vs Grandville by a couple of scores in the end after leading over the Bulldogs.
Last week’s Rockford game putting both teams in the 20’s has been indicative of the lower scoring games in 2024 that the Rams have been playing vs. the last few years. Jenison was able to get their ground game going – scoring 35 points, led by 4 Brody Schuiteman rushing TDs against Grandville after the Wildcats only scored 26 in the first 3 weeks combined.
We’ll see if Rockford’s defense will be able to slow the Wildcats back down and open up some chances for QB Brayden Daniels and the Rams offense to open up an early lead and get Rockford back in the win column, or if the Wildcats can match their strong performance up front from last week vs. the Physical Bulldogs and surprise the suddenly vulnerable Rams.
ZEELAND EAST (2-2) vs WYOMING (1-3)
Zeeland East put together an impressive effort despite the loss vs. West in the Bird Bowl last Friday. They were able to slow the game down and match a lot of the West attack early, ultimately falling on a few mistakes and inability to score in the red zone early to one of the area’s best in a game that was closer than the final score throughout. Wyoming had as tough of a matchup as you’ll find in their OK-Gold opener, falling 42-6 vs. South Christian last week.
It will be interesting to see what type off offensive attack the Chix use, they early in the season have been run-first with senior RB Eli Walcott behind power-spread multi-TE/FB units. But last week they spread it around in 3 and 4 WR sets and featured the likes of the sophomore connection of QB Will Drenk and WR Coby Miller – who put together a couple of deep connections, including a 54 yard TD vs Zeeland West. The South Christian aerial assault was effective last week, so the same sort of approach could be used by coach Woodruff if the Chix want to continue to mix things up.
FOREST HILLS NORTHERN (2-2) vs REETHS PUFFER (2-2)
Forest Hills Northern has stacked a couple of very difficult opponents and tight losses the last few weeks, falling to FHC and then Muskegon (both reigning champs) the past two weeks. Reeths Puffer current finds themselves tied with Mona Shores and Muskegon at the top of the OK-Green after a win over GR Union to stretch their win streak to two.
Looking at common opponents is always dangerous, but both of these teams played very similar, tight games in losses to FHC that could highlight some of what to expect on Friday night. FHN fell to their rival 17-14, while Reeths Puffer fell in the season opener vs the Rangers 21-10. Put that together and I think you can see the expectation for a lower scoring game between a couple of teams that have shown strong defense. This will be a good contest, regardless, and could be big for either looking to make a dark horse run at the top spot in the OK-Green.
MANTON (1-3) vs EVART (3-1)
Manton has put together a really good turnaround story so far already in the short 2024 season. After losing week one and two by a combined 112-0 score, the Rangers then fell in a 3OT shootout week three. And last week they were able to get in the win column, taking a 24-22 win on the road vs. Lake City.
Evart will be a tough test on the Rangers search for a win streak this week, the Wildcats are 3-1 and have played in a. variety of low and higher scoring games. An interesting note, however, the Wildcats lone loss came to the very Lake City Trojans team that Manton just beat last week. Two teams trending in a similar direction that should provide another fun game, something Manton on MSR has been giving us each of the past couple of weeks.
—
Enjoy all of the action on Friday! And, as always, be sure to check in for recaps, columns, rankings, standings, previews, podcasts, preview shows, on-demand broadcasts, and all of the other content you can find right here on MSR!
