By K.D. Norris
The Grand Rapids South Christian High School football team rolled back into the state Division 4 Regional title game this week after running past host Hastings, 38-14, in a District championship game last week.
The Nov. 5 win, which is available in replay on WKTV video platforms, was the second playoff win for the Sailors (now 8-3 overall) after an equally impressive 52-7 road win at Plainfield in Week 1.
Awaiting for South Christian this week is familiar foe Edwardsburg, on the road of course, which has been equally impressive in the playoffs with a 58-0 win over Paw Paw followed by 50-0 win over Three Rivers as the Eddies remained unbeaten at 11-0.
And while the game at Edwardsburg is an encore of last year’s Regional final, when the Sailors’ season ended with a 47-7 road loss, South Christian head coach Danny Brown said he knows the importance of the game but does not see it as having any extra meaning.
“I think it adds another level of excitement to play the team that ended your season the year before but it shouldn’t be our driving force,” Brown said to WKTV. “We need to prepare for Edwardsburg no different than we do any other team we play. We are just excited to get another opportunity to compete.”
And compete the Sailors have in the three seasons after Brown took over for Mark Tamminga following the 2018-19 season. In Brown’s first season, South Christian went 6-5 overall and lost in the district final; last year — in a pandemic-impacted, start-and-stop season — the Sailors went 8-1 before their loss at Edwardsburg.
“I think the big difference between the two years is the fact we get to play the game right away,” Brown said of his team’s rematch with the Eddies. “We had a lot of momentum last year and then the season was suspended. We had a month off before we played them. They did a better job of keeping their kids engaged during the down time and it showed when we played them.”
But, Brown also said, this year’s Sailors are not the same team as last year’s Sailors.
“Defensively we are bigger and stronger upfront which is something we will need against their high powered rushing attack,” he said. “We are more balanced from an offensive perspective.”
And while Brown has said he wants his team to be balanced when it comes to offense, the South Christian rushing attack was in full glory last week against Hastings.
Sailors break open a 14-14 game in 2nd quarter
Coming into South Christian’s game at Hastings, coach Brown told WKTV of his affinity for a balanced attack being borrowed from Urban Meyer, one-time Ohio State University and current NFL head coach, and how this Sailors team has that balance.
“Urban Meyer used to say, when he was coaching a game, … he wanted 200 and 200 hundred. 200 passing and 200 rushing yards, and we are pretty close to that,” Brown said.
His team did not play to script against Hastings, however, as the Sailors had 43 rushing attempts, gained 18 first downs and scored five touchdown on the ground en route to 302 total rushing yards. Junior quarterback Jake DeHaan led the rushing attack with 116 years on 13 carries with one touchdown, while junior Nate Brinks totaled 102 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns and senior Chandler VanSolkema added 78 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries.
The passing attack was effective when used, however, with DeHaan going 8-of-12 for 87 passing yards and one touchdown, that one going to senior Ashton Fennema on a 26-yard strike. Senior Jace DeMann led the team in receptions with four for 33 yards.
Sailors kicker Brinks scored eight points on one field gold and five points after touchdown.
On defense, DeMann and junior Cameron Post each had 6.5 tackles, while senior Clayton DeKam had six and senior Colton Schreur had five, as Hastings was held to 14 points, all in the first half, and 204 total yards on offense.
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