What a wild second week of the season that was! It was really tough to even remotely try to put together a list of major stories this week with so many wild games, crazy results, and notable wins & losses… But, here is my best shot at doing just that.
FIRST DOWN: Dux in the Air
We’ve got to start at Zeeland Stadium, where the reigning D3 state champion Dux faced the OK-Red’s panthers of West Ottawa. And it it looked as if it was going to be an upset on the Dux home field, with the Panthers up 24-22 with just seconds left for one last heave from the Power T Dux.
Because I’m writing about it, and because it’s HS football and the wildest thing you can imagine always happens, the Dux junior QB Drew Albrecht was able to buy enough time to chuck one up that bounced off a front row of well-positioned Panther defenders and straight into the hands of the awaiting Brandon Holman at the goal line for the score and a walk-off win. Clearly, the state champs still have some magic, and this could be a huge momentum boost for them as they head off to play Whitehall this week before starting the OK-Gold slate.
We’ll learn a lot about this West Ottawa team for Coach Collins coming up as well, they sit at 0-2 with two losses by a combined 7 points after falling to Grand Ledge 30-27 week one – and now they will host the Grandville Bulldogs, another T team – So the panthers could be well prepped to be in position to pull another upset.
SECOND DOWN: Rams Heavyweight Statement
Muskegon vs Rockford. There is no better heavyweight rivalry of traditional powers in west Michigan, and both came into Friday night at historic Hackley Stadium hungry at 0-1. The Rams would eventually come out on top in a wild one – after they trailed by 3 scores at the halftime break and hadn’t managed to find the endzone through the first 24 minutes.
It was opportunistic, as Rockford was able to force turnovers as the Big Reds were forced to turn to sophomore QB Lou Gressett for a few drives while senior Lamar Bradford battled injuries after an unstoppable first half on the ground. It’s a classic, gutsy win for the Rams that sets them up in perfect position to start a run as they begin OK-Red play with week with a trip to Grand Haven.
For the Big Reds, this still is a very good team, even as they sit at 0-2, assuming they can stay healthy they’ll have a chance to overwhelm a lot of teams on the ground with their pistol option run game of old back and humming early this year – But, their schedule still features all of the tough OK-Green and not one – but TWO – trips down to Ohio to take on Garfield and Moeller, a pair of powers, so they will need to pocket wins when they can, remember it was tougher in terms of playoff points needed to make the D2 playoffs than D1 last year…
THIRD DOWN: ‘Dawgs in Detroit
The game I was at was one of the wildest games I have ever covered and even in a loss was one of the better statements a team made on Friday night for Grandville, as they fell in OT to Cass Tech 31-28 in downtown Detroit.
The Dawgs got the ball first, drove right down the field before Jayden Terry punched in his first of three TDs – Grandville then expertly recovered an onside kick with senior kicker Owen Vasquez himself landing on the perfectly placed tumbler. Grandville was the only team to hold the ball on offense in the first quarter but failed to score on the ensuing drive and would trail 7-6 at the break.
The game got far more back-and-forth in the second half, Grandville flipped the game after a fumble and 49 yard TD run from DJ Hardiman to take the lead back 20-14. Eventually, with the game knotted at 28 the ‘Dawgs drove the length of the field and were set to knock home a chip-shot game-winner with 11 seconds to go… The rest was chaotic history as kicker Vasquez supposedly didn’t have mouth guard in and a late penalty marker and confusion over the ensuing spot of the ball would take away Grandville’s chance – without a timeout to be able to then properly set up an offensive play – that was needed now with the chains moved back at the last minute – and the game went to OT.
There, the Dawgs on a very close attempt on 4th down with Terry were spotted less than a half yard short of the goalline, and Fabian Garza knocked down a 21 yarder (after a fumble and self-recovery on a Cass 3rd down run) to win.
In short, the state’s top team survived, but it took end-of-game chaos (and some during game choas of the same variety leading up to it) that there will be a lot of opinions on, plus three failed trips inside the 10 yard line (including OT) that the Bulldogs were stopped at the 1-yard-line. Grandville – even in the loss – proved they more than deserved to be on the same field as the Technicians, and will stay one of the area’s best.
FOURTH DOWN: Falcons Flight
Speaking of area’s best – Coach Ty Spencer, future MSU senior QB Kayd Coffman and the Falcons of EK are rolling and have fully entered the discussion for the chase for the OK-Red this season. After a dominant win over the 2023 state champs Southfield A&T week one, they would dominate reigning D2 runners-up Byron Center on Friday night.
The Falcons won it 43-14 on their home field, as their offense again was rolling – putting up 43 both weeks now. Byron Center will figure things out, they sit at 0-2 and have a tough road ahead in the OK-Green, but there are enough championship-caliber pieces still left on this team to find their identity on both sides of the ball and get back to what we’ve seen traditionally and especially last year out of them.
For the Falcons, look out, I think they have now fully proven the pre-season hype was warranted and they get a chance to prove it in the OK-Red. They will open the Red season with a pair of road games at Jenison and the Rockford, and will notably have a back-to-back of road games against Hudsonville and Grandville in week 7 and 8 that could determine the league title race.
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This week, conference play kicks off in the OK-Red and other divisions – while we also will still have some really interesting non-con matchups on deck. I’ll be excited to see how week three can live up to the chaos we saw in week two.
