After clinching a playoff spot against Holland last week, the East Kentwood Falcons are going for their next goal: OK Red champs.
Hosting Hudsonville (5-2 overall, 3-1 in conference) this week, East Kentwood (6-1, 4-0) can secure at least a share of the title this week with a win. Combined with a win next week, in the final game of the regular season, also at home against Rockford (4-3, 3-1), the Falcons would claim the title outright.
Falcons Head Coach Anthony Kimbrough. (WKTV)
Both Falcons head coach Tony Kimbrough and his players know there is still a lot to play for in the final two games — as T’Shone Cutts, a senior middle linebacker for the Falcons, said “they are lasered in” for the rest of this season.
Unlike recent years, when the team struggled at times, Kimbrough, in his fourth year as head coach of the Falcons told the WKTV journal what changed in a early-season interview.
“We just got back to basics,” coach Kimbrough said. “The kids are playing good some really good fundamental and assignment football.”
Stephan Bracey, senior wide receiver for East Kentwood. (WKTV)
Stephan Bracey, a Western Michigan University football commit and senior wide receiver, also expressed high hopes for his team.
“We want to go all the way to Ford Field and get the dub there,” Bracey said, referring to a “W,” a win. “So, state champs is our goal.”
Cutts, one of Kimbrough’s defensive weapons, is confident in the defense he is one of the leaders on, despite the rocky start they had in the beginning of the season.
T’Shone Cutts, senior middle linebacker for East Kentwood. (WKTV)
“Our defense is looking good,” Cutts said. “We’re staying focused. We can’t allow teams to score the way they were in the beginning of the season.”
After giving up 30 points to Grandville in Week 5, East Kentwood has only given up 12 points in their last two games.
This week’s WKTV Featured Game and other sports events are cable broadcast either live, immediately after the event and/or in rebroadcast, on Comcast WKTV Channel 25 and on AT&T U-Verse Community 99.
WKTV’s featured football games are rebroadcast on the night of the game (Thursday or Friday) at 11 p.m. and Saturday starting at 11 a.m. See WKTVjournal.org/sports for complete schedules.
October brings trick or treats on Halloween but also the close out of some of the fall sports seasons.
WKTV’s Mike Moll.
The regular season of football completes its schedule the weekend of Oct. 19-20 and opens its playoffs the following weekend. Girls golf will hold its regional tournaments Oct. 10-11, with qualifiers for state finals that will be held the weekend of Oct. 19-20 to headline the sports tournaments but there are plenty of others.
Be sure to check the complete sports schedule each week to see when and where your favorite teams and sports are playing.
The featured WKTV games will continue during the regular season of football and if there are any of our local teams that qualify for the playoffs, depending on when and where those games are played we might be covering them as well. The playoff schedules will be announced on Sunday, Oct. 21 with Pre-District games kicking off the following weekend.
The remaining featured football broadcast schedule is:
Friday, Oct. 12 — Hudsonville at East Kentwood
Friday, Oct. 19 — Wyoming Lee at Godwin Heights
All games, as well as other high school sports and community events covered by WKTV, are available on-demand within a week of play at wktvondemand.com .
For a complete schedule of all local high school sports action each week, any changes to the WKTV feature sports schedule, and features on local sports, visit wktvjournal.org/sports/
Following is the end of this week’s schedule:
Tuesday, Oct. 9
Boys Soccer
Calvin Christian @ Godwin Heights
Kelloggsville @ Potter’s House
Wyoming @ Middleville T-K
Tri-Unity Christian @ Holland Calvary
FH Eastern @ South Christian
Zion Christian @ Wellsprings Prep
Boys/Girls Cross Country
Wyoming @ Saranac
Girls Volleyball
Wyoming @ Forest Hills Eastern
Tri-Unity Christian @ Holland Calvary
South Christian @ Christian
Potter’s House @ Kalamazoo Heritage
Grand River Prep @ West Michigan Aviation
Zion Christian @ Wellsprings Prep
Wednesday, Oct. 10
Boys/Girls Cross Country
Godwin Heights @ Belding
Kelloggsville @ Belding
Wyoming Lee @ Belding
Girls Volleyball
Godwin Heights @ West Michigan Aviation
Boys Water Polo
Rockford @ East Kentwood
Boys Soccer
West Ottawa @ East Kentwood
Girls Golf
South Christian at Unity Christian – MHSAA Regionals Division 3
Thursday, Oct. 11
Boys Soccer
Godwin Heights @ Hopkins
Kelloggsville @ Wyoming Lee
South Christian @ Wyoming
Tri-Unity Christian @ Holland Black River
Wellsprings Prep @ Potter’s House
Fruitport Calvary @ Grand River Prep
West Michigan Aviation @ Zion Christian
Girls Volleyball
Godwin Heights @ Calvin Christian
Union @ Kelloggsville
Grand Haven @ East Kentwood
Wyoming @ Wayland
Tri-Unity Christian @ Holland Black River
South Christian @ East Grand Rapids
Wellsprings Prep @ Potter’s House
Fruitport Calvary @ Grand River Prep
West Michigan Aviation @ Zion Christian
NorthPointe Christian @ Wyoming Lee
Boys Tennis
Wyoming at Mattawan – MHSAA Regionals Division 2
Kelloggsville @ South Christian – MHSAA Regionals Division 4
Girls Golf
East Kentwood at GVSU – MHSAA Regionals Division 1
Girls Swimming
Rockford @ East Kentwood
South Christian @ West Catholic
Friday, Oct. 12
Boys Football
Godwin Heights @ NorthPointe Christian
Kelloggsville @ Belding
Hudsonville @ East Kentwood – WKTV Featured Event
Wyoming @ FH Eastern
Tri-Unity Christian @ Bellaire
South Christian @ Middleville T-K
Potters House/Calvin Christian @ Manistee
Hopkins @ Wyoming Lee
Boys Tennis
East Kentwood at Hudsonville – MHSAA Regionals Division 1
Saturday, Oct. 13
Girls Volleyball
Potter’s House @ Godwin Heights – Pink Out Tournament
Wyoming Lee @ Godwin Heights – Pink Out Tournament
FH Central @ East Kentwood – EK Invitational
Tri-Unity Christian @ Kalamazoo – The Point
South Christian @ Troy
Boys Water Polo
TBA @ East Kentwood – EK Invitational
Boys/Girls Cross Country
East Kentwood @ Christian
Tri-Unity Christian @ Christian
Wyoming Lee @ Christian
Monday, Oct. 15
Boys Soccer
Godwin Heights @ Wyoming Lee – MHSAA Districts
Grand River Prep @ Covenant Christian – MHSAA Districts
Kelloggsville @ South Christian – MHSAA Districts
East Kentwood @ Kalamazoo Central – MHSAA Districts
It’s now or never for the Kelloggsville football team.
Rockets Head Coach Don Galster. (WKTV)
Veteran head coach Don Galster knows his Rockets need a win Friday night against NorthPointe Christian keep alive realistic hopes of his team getting to the playoffs for the third year in a row. But a disappointing loss to Godwin Heights last week isn’t going to stop these Rockets from taking off.
Kelloggsville is now 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the OK Silver conference. Last season, the Rockets defeated NorthPointe, 36-21, as part of a 9-0 regular season.
Galster told the WKTV Journal how important these next few weeks leading up to the playoffs are.
“Our destiny is in our hands and we just have to rise to the occasion,” Galster said prior to the Godwin Heights game.
That point is also clear to a couple of key senior players for Kelloggsville as well.
Desmond Simmons, Kelloggsville football player. (WKTV)
For Desmond Simmons, a senior middle linebacker for the Rockets, these next few weeks will be the last time he plays football at the high school level. Hoping for the post-season, Simmons takes pride in how he and the rest of the defense has been playing.
“I think we’re looking pretty solid,” Simmons said. “We always try to go hard at practice even if it’s hot, cold, or we’re tired. We always try to go hard and hit somebody.”
This will be senior wingback Jaevion Willis’ last year as a high school football player as well.
Jaevion Willis, Kelloggsville player. (WKTV)
“We’re taking this week one step at a time,” said Willis. “We’re trying to get better and better every day. We’re looking forward to trying to step up and make the run and make back-to-back conference champs”.
Because this is their last season with the Rockets, both Simmons and Willis reflected on their time with coach Galster.
“It means a lot,” Simmons said. “It feels real good to be coached by him and have somebody that knows what their doing.”
“It’s very exciting, playing for coach Galster,” Willis said. “Or ‘The Goat’ as we call him.”
This week’s WKTV Featured Game and other sports events are cable broadcast either live, immediately after the event and/or in rebroadcast, on Comcast WKTV Channel 25 and on AT&T U-Verse Community 99.
WKTV’s featured football games are rebroadcast on the night of the game (Thursday or Friday) at 11 p.m. and Saturday starting at 11 a.m. See WKTVjournal.org/sports for complete schedules.
Two teams are fighting for playoff spots this week as the Kelloggsville Rockets host the Godwin Heights Wolverines. Godwin Heights needs four more games in their win category to automatically qualify for playoffs; a feat rookie head coach Brandon Kimble says isn’t out of reach.
“Getting in the post-season was one of our goals, so it’s now or never for us now,” Coach Kimble told the WKTV Journal.
Godwin Heights coach Brandon Kimble, talking at practice this week. (WKTV)
The WKTV Journal caught up with Coach Kimble earlier this year to talk about his new job as head coach of the Wolverines. During the discussion, Kimble said “defense wins championships, but offense fills the stands.” And both sides of the ball have been performing up to Kimble’s standards.
“Our defense has been playing stellar all year. Every game we’ve been in, we’ve been in because of the defense,” Coach Kimble said this week. “And our offense has actually been playing really good, we’ve just been turning the ball over.”
This will be Kimble’s first game against Kelloggsville. His counterpart, coach Don Galster of Kelloggsville, has been with his team for 29 seasons. However, Galster says don’t be fooled by his younger opponent.
“It’ll be a tough game,” Galster said. “It doesn’t matter what the records are when we play Godwin. This will be my 29th Godwin game. They’ll be ready to go, but we’ll also be ready to go.”
Kimble gave mutual respect to Galster regarding the coaches tenureship at Kelloggsville.
“With Kellogsville, the coach has been there a long time. He know’s the conference and other teams very well,” Kimble said. “We expect to see a team that’s aggressive, a team that’s going to fly around, a team that’s going to be competitive.”
This week’s WKTV Featured Game and other sports events are cable broadcast either live, immediately after the event and/or in rebroadcast, on Comcast WKTV Channel 25 and on AT&T U-Verse Community 99.
WKTV’s featured football games are rebroadcast on the night of the game (Thursday or Friday) at 11 p.m. and Saturday starting at 11 a.m. See WKTVjournal.org/sports for complete schedules.
WKTV’s coverage of high school sports and select community events are also available on-demand within a week of the event at wktvondemand.com.
The Rockets getting ready for a key game this week when Godwin Heights comes to town. (WKTV)
By Micah Cho, WKTV Sports Intern
ken@wktv.org
With games running out on the 2018 football season, OK-Silver conference rivals Kelloggsville and Godwin Heights have a common goal: getting to the playoffs. Riding a two-game winning streak, if Kelloggsville can keep the wins coming, they’ll be in good shape for the post season.
With four games remaining, and six wins needed to be guaranteed a spot in the postseason. Kelloggsville’s 3-2 record (2-0 in conference) gives them a little bit of wiggle room. But Rockets Head Coach Don Galster understands the pressure that is on him and his team, he just doesn’t let that pressure get to him, however.
Rockets Head Coach Don Galster. (WKTV)
“We’re going to be competitive these last four weeks,” Coach Galster told the WKTV Journal. “I really wouldn’t want it any other way. We hold our destiny in our hands and we just have to rise to the occasion.”
Galster’s Rockets are not without their hardships. Although they’ve had an almost dominant last two games, it was difficult getting to a place where the team feels comfortable together, he said.
“We lost a strong senior class, so we’re really young in some spots,” Coach Galster said. “We’re starting to put it together. We feel good where we are now.”
And Coach probably knows when a team is “putting it together” — he has been the head coach of Kelloggsville for 29 seasons.
This week’s WKTV Featured Game and other sports events are cable broadcast either live, immediately after the event and/or in rebroadcast, on Comcast WKTV Channel 25 and on AT&T U-Verse Community 99.
WKTV’s featured football games are rebroadcast on the night of the game (Thursday or Friday) at 11 p.m. and Saturday starting at 11 a.m. See WKTVjournal.org/sports for complete schedules.
WKTV’s coverage of high school sports and select community events are also available on-demand within a week of the event at wktvondemand.com.
