By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
On a wet, windy and chilly night, the South Christian football team kept its hopes for a conference championship by playing some old-fashioned football. Relying more on the ground game and playing some strong defense late in the game, the Sailors rallied to defeat Middleville Thornapple Kellogg 29-20 in the WKTV Game of the Week.
With the win, the Sailors remained undefeated in conference play and set up a showdown with Grand Rapids Catholic Central next Friday with the OK Gold Conference championship on the line.
Keeping their conference record clean was anything but easy for the Sailors as Middleville came in with a strong game plan and pushed South to the limit. Relying on their strong running game, the Trojans played to their strengths and gave South everything it could handle.
“We talked about it all week that they are better than their record,” said South Christian Coach Danny Brown. “They are a physical team and they run their schemes well. Their fullback (Drake Snyder) is a heck of a player. It probably helped a little bit when he went out of the game, just for us to kind of dictate the line of scrimmage a little more.”
Middleville showed just how strong it is running the football when it mounted an 11-play, 73-yard scoring drive on the first possession of the game. Quarterback Grant Middleton capped the drive when he ran in for a touchdown from two-yards out halfway through the opening quarter.
South Christian tied the game late in the first quarter. With Middleville bottled up deep in its own territory, Jake Vermaas intercepted a Trojan pass giving South good field position inside the Middleville 20-yard line. A few plays later Drew Bruinsma took a pitch from South quarterback Carson Vis and rambled into the end zone from 14-yards out
Trojans up 14-7 at the half
Middleville regained the lead late in the first half. Again, the Trojans mounted a long drive. Covering 73 yards, the Trojans capped the scoring drive by going to the air as Middleton hooked up with Snyder for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Hayden Chatman added the point after giving Middleville a 14-7 halftime lead.
South responded to the score on the opening drive of the second half. Relying on their own ground game, the Sailors drove the ball down to the Middleville 7-yard line where Vis connected with Austin Tiesma for a touchdown pass cutting the margin to 14-13. South, however, missed the point after.
Trojans up 20-13 in the third
Middleville answered the South score with a scoring drive of its own on the next possession. Starting out at its own 45-yard line, the Trojans moved the ball 55 yards on nine plays. Brody Wiersma capped the scoring drive by running in from 24-yards out. Middleville, however, missed the extra point leaving the Trojans with a 20-13 lead.
South Christian goes ahead 21-20 in the fourth
Facing a touchdown deficit late in the third quarter, the South Christian offense again stepped up. Starting out on their own 35-yard line, the Sailors mounted an 11-play scoring drive that went into the fourth quarter. Mixing the pass and run, the Sailors drove down to the Middleville 4-yard line. At third down at the 4, Vis scrambled in the face of a Middleville pass rush and found Vermaas for a touchdown pass. Down by one point, the Sailors elected to go for the two-point conversion. South pulled a trick out of its bag on the play as Vermaas took the ball on a double reverse and completed a pass to Tyler Brinks in the corner of the end zone giving South a 21-20 lead.
With the lead, the Sailors put the game in the hands of its defense. Making adjustments throughout the game, the Sailor defenders slowed down the Middleville ground game. They forced the Trojans into a three-and-out and then turned Middleville over on downs late in the fourth quarter.
Sailors get insurance score late in the game
South added some insurance points late in the game. With 2:14 remaining, Vis ran in for a touchdown from eight-yards out. The Sailors then added another two-point conversion when Vis connected with James VanderArk on a pass play.
“This was a great team win,” Brown said. “I challenged the guys at halftime. I told them we have to make some positive plays. We had to make them (Middleville) doubt themselves and what they had going on. Our kids just stepped up in the second half.
“The kids got the stops we needed and the two-point conversion was a big play.”
With the win against Middleville keeping their record clean, the Sailors face Catholic Central in the showdown for the league title.
“We’re excited about the game,” Brown said. “It will be fun. We are both undefeated and they are obviously a very good program. It is one of those special games that the kids will remember 20 years from now.”
WKTV Game of the Week
Year after year, our high-tech WKTV Game of the Week truck films one game each week, which includes two play-by-play announcers, a field announcer and various camera angles with slow motion replays to capture all those great plays for your viewing pleasure.
Game of the Week airs every Friday night on WKTV Comcast Channel 25 & AT&T U-Verse Channel 99 at 11 p.m. with a rebroadcast on Saturday at 11 a.m. To watch the WKTV Game of the Week online, visit WKTVVideos on Youtube.
