Check out the exciting clips above from our latest Friday Night Highlights show of the season featuring many of the local high school football teams in Kentwood and Wyoming.
Just like basketball season, every week we’ll bring you most of the local high school football home stadium action from the Wyoming and Kentwood varsity teams, highlight some top performers and their stats, give final scores, and show a snapshot of the latest conference standings in an exciting 30-minute Friday Night Highlights show.
Look for our fast-paced local highlights show every Tuesday! Thanks for tuning in.
WKTV Game of the Week
Year after year, our high-tech WKTV Truck Game of the Week covers one matchup per week, which includes two play-by-play announcers, an occasional field announcer and various camera angles with slow motion replays to capture all those great plays for your viewing pleasure.
You can count on our very experienced, exciting game announcers for both football and basketball to guide you through your local team’s games. If you are interested in volunteering at WKTV Sports for our Truck or Studio productions, please email me at greer@wktv.org
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. If you don’t have cable, visit our website at WKTV.org to watch the livestream. You also can watch these games on our WKTV YouTube Channel.
WKTV Truck Game of the Week Sked
Friday, Sept. 27: Hudsonville at East Kentwood
Friday, Oct. 4: Zeeland East vs. South Christian (at Byron Center)
Friday, Oct. 11: Godwin Heights at Kelloggsville
Friday, Oct. 18: Jenison at East Kentwood
Friday, Oct 25: Catholic Central vs. South Christian (at East Grand Rapids)
Wyoming girls basketball Coach Jesse Vasquez talks to his team during a timeout. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)
By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
It may have been the third game of the season for the Wyoming girls basketball team, but the performance the Wolves put on looked more like a team in mid-season form.
Blending a potent offense with a stingy defense, the Wolves claimed a 61-17 win against visiting Comstock Park Tuesday.
With a host of talented players back from last year’s squad that finished with a winning record along with some promising newcomers, the Wolves started strong and finished even stronger against the visiting Panthers.
Leading 13-8 at the end of the first quarter, Wyoming began to ramp up the offense and lock down even tighter on the defensive end of the floor during the second quarter. Wyoming opened the second quarter going on a 16-3 run to take a 29-11 lead midway through the quarter. Their swarming defense forced Comstock Park into numerous turnovers during the run while the offense was in overdrive.
The Wolves began to heat up from beyond the three-point arc and whatever outside shots were missed were converted into putbacks on offensive rebounds as the Wolves, led by La’Anna Griffin and Michaela Moore, controlled the offensive boards.
Wyoming’s La’Anna Griffin (15) goes around a Comstock Park defender during Tuesday’s game. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)
Wyoming closed out the first half playing even stingier defense as it held Comstock Park scoreless the remainder of the half while building the lead to 35-11 by halftime.
“All week we’ve been talking about doing the little things,” said Wyoming coach Jesse Vasquez. “About out-working and out-rebounding teams. We have a lot of great shooters on our team and if we dominate the glass and get the loose balls our offense can take over games.”
That was exactly the formula the Wolves used to take the game over against Comstock Park. Wyoming kept the pressure up during the second half. The Wolves outscored the Panthers 14-6 during the third quarter to increase the lead to 49-17.
The fourth quarter was even more impressive as the Wyoming defense held Comstock Park scoreless while scoring 12 points on the offensive end of the floor.
Wyoming guard Myah Nabors (13) sets up the offense during Tuesday’s game against Comstock Park.(WKTV/Greg Chrapek)
Wyoming dictated the pace of play during the game. The Wolves also used every player available during the game as they were substituting like a hockey team rolling out fresh lines. That total-team effort was obvious by looking at the scorebook. A total of 10 Wolves scored with four Wyoming players reaching double figures.
Tamia Gayles led with 15 points
Sophomore Tamia Gayles led the Wolves in scoring with 15 points, while seniors Griffin and Madileena Longoria and sophomore Myah Nabors scored 10 each. Moore, a sophomore, added eight points followed by juniors Shakya Anderson and Ly’Nia King and sophomore Arianna Bennitt with two points apiece.
“We’re a pretty deep team,” Vasquez said. “As deep as we are it’s pretty easy to play at the pace we do. Having two or three fresh bodies to always rotate in makes my job easier.”
Having a strong core of veterans also helps. Wyoming lost just two seniors from last year’s squad. Along with the veteran players returning, the Wolves moved up three sophomores to the varsity along with fellow sophomore Nabors who saw extensive playing time last season as a freshman.
“We have some returning players like Myah Nabors, La’Anna Griffin, Madileena Longoria and Shakya Anderson,” Vasquez said. “Add in the sophomores like Michaela Moore and Tamia Gayles. I really like our guard play. We have three really good guards in Tamia, Myah and Michaela and two solid post players.”
With the win, Wyoming improved to 2-1 for the season. Wyoming opened the season in a big way by scheduling the toughest competition it could find in defending Division 1 state champion Rockford. While the Wolves fell 69-23, the game provided the team with the toughest test available. Wyoming rebounded from that game to defeat Grand Rapids Christian 52-36.
“We wanted to toughen our schedule up,” Vasquez said. “We want to play the tough teams and get to that level. One game does not define a season.”
The rugged non-league schedule also prepares the Wolves for what will be a competitive OK-Green Conference season.
“Our conference is pretty deep,” Vasquez said. “Muskegon is right up there. Reeths-Puffer and Zeeland West are going to be up there and you can’t count out Mona Shores. If we do the things we talk about we will be right up there too.”
