By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
Along with teaching the X’s and O’s of football, new East Kentwood football coach Tyrone Spencer is also teaching the mental part of the game to his squad. The Falcons took another step in that mental course last Friday when defeating Caledonia 41-35 in the OK Red season opener.
The visiting Falcons stormed out of the gate fast and then had to fend off a furious Caledonia rally to come away with the win and improve to 2-1 for the season.
The fast start for the Falcons was a reversal of the Week 2 game against Byron Center where Kentwood fell behind by a large margin in the first half.
“I thought the guys played well,” Spencer said. “I think a real big thing was that the guys fought through adversity. We jumped out to a 34-0 lead and then Caledonia scored on a pick six. They came back and cut it to 34-28, but then our guys ended up making the plays at the end of the game that they needed to make.”
East Kentwood made plenty of plays in the opening half as it raced out to a 34-0 lead. Falcon running back Elijah Jones started the scoring as he reeled off a 60-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The lead grew to 13-0 when Falcon quarterback Drew Burton connected with Caiden Holt on a 21-yard touchdown pass with Jayden Garcia tacking on the extra point kick. The lead expanded to 20-0 later in the first quarter when Kayd Coffman, who shares the quarterback duties with Burton, scored on a one-yard touchdown run with Garcia converting the extra point.
“We use both Drew and Kayd,” Spencer said. “They have both been great leaders for us. Kayd did some really nice things out there and Drew also did a nice job and threw a touchdown pass.”
The Falcons added two more touchdowns in the second quarter to grow the lead to 34-0. Coffman tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to Holt, while Jones scored his second touchdown of the game on a three-yard run. Garcia added both extra points.
Caledonia’s comeback
Caledonia began to mount a comeback late in the second quarter when Leighton Fink intercepted a Falcon pass and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown.
The Fighting Scots continued the comeback in the second half with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. Caledonia quarterback Brody Betser connected with Parker Little on a 29-yard scoring strike to make the score 34-14 after the extra point by Brody Siler. Betser then connected with Reed Vogeler on a touchdown pass cutting the Kentwood lead to 34-21.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Fighting Scots trimmed the deficit to six points as Betser ran for a touchdown from six-yards out and Siler tacked on the point after.
Kentwood, however, stemmed the tide later in the quarter when Jones ran in for his third touchdown of the game from a yard out. Garcia tacked on the point after putting the Falcons up 41-28.
Caledonia added one final touchdown on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Betser to Lincoln Senti with Siler tacking on the point after making the final score 41-35.
“I thought this game was a great lesson for the guys,” Spencer said. “They have to learn how to win and this was a great lesson. I also talked to them about how important it is to get an early lead. To have early success and build on that momentum and we were able to do that with Elijah’s early 60-yard touchdown run. I also thought our coaches did a great job with the game plan.”
The Falcons showed good balance on offense for the game. Coffman completed 8-of-13 passes for 142 yards, while Burton added 21 yards passing. Jones led the way in the ground game with 22 carries for 201 yards with three touchdowns.
Holt led the way in the receiving department with six catches for 143 yards.
Kabanda led EK with seven tackles
Terrence Kabanda led the Falcons with seven tackles, while Tyler Meeuwsen added five tackles and one tackle for loss. Steph Jones had an interception for EK.
“This was a huge game for us,” Spencer said. “Caledonia is a good team; it was our first conference and it was a road game. It felt really good to get this win. We have West Ottawa and Hudsonville coming up and we want to keep improving and getting more confidence.”
The Falcons travel to West Ottawa this Friday and then return home on Sept. 27 to host Hudsonville.
