We are already approaching the halfway point of the 2025 season, and week four provided a lot of clarity already in the early stages of the race for the playoffs and conference championships, here’s a look at the four biggest stories from week four in west Michigan!
1st DOWN: Unity Christian on a Crusade
After a season that didn’t end the way they certainly wanted or expected it to last year after a dominants regular season and second-round exit, Unity Christian and Coach Tibbe had to turn over a ton of the roster for 2025 if they were to get some revenge in a similar way to what they did in 2021, making a trip to Ford Field after dominant season ended in the district rounds the year prior.
The Crusaders have quietly become one of the area’s most dominant teams this year, they didn’t enter the season with as much fanfare as they might have in past years, but that hasn’t mattered – they might end the season with all the fanfare you could ask for, a 50-12 win over previously unbeaten Zeeland East in a critical game to take the early upper hand in the conference race proved that Friday night.
Through 4 games the ‘Saders have now outscored their opponents 180-52, never allowing more than 19 points to their opponent, despite taking on stout opponents who are all 3-1 with their only defeat coming to Unity and their Power T attack.
2nd DOWN: OK-Red Round-Up
Let’s just combine what we learned in the Ok-Red race into a weekly single down here, because the stories here are going to come fast and furious. Rockford made the biggest statement as they were able to hold at the goal line to defeat East Kentwood and earn the earliest big win of the season for the Red race. Alsong with that 21-14 win – Grandville and Hudsonville each maintained the course, as Hudsonville took down WO and Grandville won at Caledonia.
Watch for the health status of Grandville’s Jayden Terry, he is likely the state’s most dynamic offensive weapon and suffered a leg injury in the Caledonia game – The Bulldogs do have confidence in the likes of DJ Hardiman, Braylen Haney, and Orin Kuyoc to pick up where ‘Tank’ left off, but Terry is a weapon that is impossible to recreate and will take a team effort for the Bulldogs to keep it up without him, starting with Rockford this weekend.
3rd DOWN: Mona Shores Sailing On
The Sailors have been a team that we have left high in our power poll despite them suffering a week one loss, but Coach Koziak’s team have been showing exactly why we have left them toward the top all season. They first earned a tough win over a very good River Rouge team in week 2 16-6 to get in the win column and now in the last two weeks have outscored Flint Hamady and Reeths Puffer a combined 112-7 in dominate wins, flexing their offensive muscle along with the continued stout defensive play.
On offense, their backfield may be the best duo in the state out of their ski-gun pistol attack with senior Portage Northern transfer Joe Thole at QB and the team’s long time stud RB Ike Steward plowing ahead at tailback. This is one of the area’s top teams overall on both sides of the ball, and they are getting ready to likely start flexing some muscle as a team with hopes to be the fourth straight team from the west-side to make the D2 state title game.
4th DOWN: Debuting This Week! MSR Friday Night Kick-Off LIVE
Lastly, it’s a HUGE week coming up this Friday on MSR and we have an awesome new way to get prepped for kickoff this weekend on MSR. Tune in at 6:00pm LIVE for our first ever edition of MSR Friday Night Kick-Off LIVE, as myself and Chandler Timmer will be field-side from Grandville with a ‘Gameday’ style show breaking down and picking every game that you can watch on MSR that night!
We also hope to have some interviews and other fun along the way, it’s an all-new experience for Michigan HS football and MSR and we are excited to bring it all to you. With our network-wide pre-game show leading into the start of all of out other ~15 live broadcasts we will have going on LIVE – including the likes of Grandville/Rockford, Zeeland East/West, FHC/Unity Christian, & More!
So you all then, right here on the listen live page and the MSR App at 6:00pm on Friday!
