By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Rockford has run off a pair of impressive victories over Caledonia (34-14) and West Ottawa (47-15) that last two weeks after suffering their only two losses the previous two weeks. The Rams will close out the home portion of the regular season schedule on Friday, October 18 at 7:00 P.M. when Grand Haven comes calling at Carlson-Munger Stadium. Rockford will enter the contest with a record of 5-2 (3-2 in the OK Red) while Grand Haven sits at 2-5 (1-4 in the conference).
The Buccaneers began the season promisingly with wins in two of their first three contests. They topped Stevensville Lakeshore 28-21 and West Ottawa 26-14. But they have suffered four consecutive losses to fall to 2-5. Their last three contests in particular have been painful for them as they have fallen by the cumulative score of 34 to 157. For the season they are putting up 19 points per contest while allowing 37. Conversely, Rockford has averaged 30 points while surrendering 20.
Rockford leads the all time series between the two schools by an overwhelming margin of 36-4. The Rams won last year by the score of 49-8 and the last GH triumph came in 2010 by the score of 26-23. Though Rockford has the huge advantage statistically, few teams come out and play any harder against Rockford then the Buccaneers.
Grand Haven is led by second-year head coach Andrew Biedenbender. Biedenbender played collegiately at Grand Valley State as an offensive tackle and had previous coaching stops at Owosso, Mount PLeasant and West Ottawa before accepting the position at Grand Haven. The Buccaneers have begun to start trending up as their numbers have increased over the past few years after being unable to field a junior varsity squad a few years back. The number of players on this year’s team is approaching 50 for a team that struggled to have 30 players a few years back.
Grand Haven is led by senior wide receiver/ defensive back Will Korenstra. Korenstra is a three-year starter and committed to Grand Valley earlier this year. He is joined by tight end Alex Dixon and last year’s QB Xzavier Rodriguez as weapons at the receiving positions. Luke Berry (6’6″ pocket passer) will assume the reins as the QB this year for Grand Haven. Sophomore running back Andrew Williamsen is another promising skill player for the Bucs.
Defensively they are led by linemen Ethan Riggs and Wyatt Sernecki. Joining them is retuning outside linebacker Connor Van Beek. Corey Preston and Ryan Moore join Korenstra as secondary principals for Grand Haven.
The preliminary weather forecast for Friday is extremely positive so a large turnout is expected. THe Rams will greatly enhance their chances of at least one home game during the playoffs with a win in this OK Red clash.
