Kenowa Hills Football - WKTV Journal

The South Christian offense lines up against the Kenowa Hills defense during Friday’s OK Gold season opener. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)

By Greg Chrapek

WKTV Contributor

A week after suffering a stinging non-conference defeat to East Grand Rapids on the final play of the game, the South Christian Sailors opened OK Gold Conference play in a big way with a 49-28 victory against Kenowa Hills.

South Christian struck fast and struck big against the Knights with a dazzling display of offense. The Sailors wasted little time in shaking off any lingering effects of last Friday’s loss to East as Charlie Schreur returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown giving South a 7-0 lead just seconds into the game.

“I think the big thing was to just move on and get back to work,” South Christian Coach Danny Brown said. “We just had to get back to the basics. We had to focus on the things that we can control and move on from that game. This is a resilient group and they did everything we asked of them this week.”

Tied at 7 early

Although the Sailors grabbed the early lead, the young Kenowa Hills squad came to play and came at South the full 48 minutes. Kenowa tied the game midway through the first quarter when it capitalized on a South Christian turnover deep in Sailor territory to knot it at 7-7.

South quickly regained the lead on the next possession when quarterback Carson Vis hooked up with Jake Vermaas on a 17-yard scoring pass that capped a five-play, 60-yard drive.

Vis to Vermaas clicking

The Vis to Vermaas connection clicked the entire game. Vis, who entered the game completing 77 percent of his passing attempts, turned in another stellar performance as he completed 14-of-19 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns.

Vermaas, who entered the game with 10 receptions for 247 yards this season, added to that total by hauling in eight passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns. Together, the Vis to Vermaas connection has accounted for six touchdown passes through the first three games of the season.

“I think that it helps that they play a lot of sports together,” Brown said. “Whether it’s football or basketball, they compete in different sports together and they have formed a natural quarterback/wide receiver connection.”

While Vermaas has developed into the top target for Vis, the Sailor junior quarterback has plenty of other options to go to. Jackson Haik hauled in three passes for 113 yards against the Knights, while Noah Funk caught two balls for 43 yards and Sam Weiss two receptions for 31.

Sophomore quarterback Kayd Coffman also got in on the action as he completed two of his three passes for 51 yards.

On the ground, Schreur carried the ball six times for 38 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns.

Up 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, South Christian added to its lead with a pair of second quarter touchdowns. Those scores came on 25 and seven-yard touchdown passes from Vis to Vermaas.

South stretched the lead to 35-7 midway through the third quarter on a one-yard touchdown run by Scheur.

Kenowa cuts the margin

Kenowa battled back and answered with a pair of touchdowns of its own to cut the margin to 35-21 before Vis hooked up with Haik on an 80-yard touchdown pass giving the Sailors a 42-21 lead. The two teams then traded touchdowns in the final minutes of the game.

Cam VanSolkema leads defense

Defensively, South Christian senior defensive lineman Cam VanSolkema led with three tackles, three assisted tackles and two tackles for a loss.

The South Christian defense huddles up with coaches on the sidelines during Friday’s game against Kenowa Hills. Cam VanSolkema (77) led the Sailors on defense. (WKTV/Greg Chrapek)

“South Christian football is going on its 59^th year or so and Cam is the first player to be a four-year varsity starter,” Brown said. “Obviously, he has a ton of experience. He put in a lot of hard work in the off-season. He is a really strong player and has great fundamentals and technique and knows how to play with his hands.”

The Sailors defense also received strong efforts from Tyler Brinks with five tackles, two assists, a sack and one tackle for loss, Ben Mulder, four tackles, four assists and one tackle for loss, Austin Tiesma, three tackles, three assists and one tackle for loss and Vermaas with an interception.

With the win, the Sailors improved to 2-1 for the season, and return to action next week when they head to 3-0 Forest Hills Eastern.

South Christian Quarterback Jake DeHaan rushes the ball earlier this season. (Courtesy, Eric Walstra)

By Cris Greer, WKTV Managing Editor

greer@wktv.org

The wins keep coming and the pressure keeps mounting for the South Christian football team, which knocked off Kenowa Hills 37-7 Friday to stay undefeated at 8-0.

The Sailors have a chance to go undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 2004 with a win at Forest Hills Eastern next Friday, and hope to stand alone atop the OK Gold for the first time since 2014.

They are currently 6-0 in the conference, one win ahead of Grand Rapids Catholic Central with a 36-34 win over them earlier this year.

“An undefeated regular season would be really cool,” said South Christian Coach Danny Brown, whose team reached a Division 4 regional final last year. “We’re playing a really good Forest Hills Eastern (4-2, 6-2 overall) team that is well coached with good players next Friday.

“We want to roll into the playoffs on a good note.”

Jake DeHaan stands tall again

Once again, quarterback Jake DeHaan led the way for the Sailors, completing 15 of 23 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown throw to Carson Vis. DeHaan added 51 yards on the ground with two more TDs.

“He threw the ball really well,” Brown said. “He was taking what the defense was giving him. We ran a lot of swing passes to our running backs, and our receivers did an awesome job of blocking downfield this week.”

(Image Courtesy of South Christian)

Cayden Dykema led the Sailors with 6 tackles, while Sawyer TenHaaf added 5.

“We played really good on defense tonight,” Brown said. “We were flying around everywhere and good at the point of attack. We did a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback and made it tough on them.

“The kids seem to answer the bell every week.”

Nate Brinks “all over the place”

Brown said Nate Brinks had a great game as well, rushing 10 times for 50 yards and a TD and five receptions for 72 yards, plus handling all the kicking duties.

“He kicked a field goal and nearly puts every kickoff into the end zone,” Brown said. “He had a lot of touches today; was all over the place.”

Seth Ritsema had four catches for 99 yards.

Kenowa Hills Coach Rory Zegunis said the Sailors are very impressive.

“They are as advertised, that’s for sure,” said Zegunis, whose team fell to 1-7 overall. “I was super impressed with their defense. They are big, strong and fast. It’s hard to find a place to attack them.

“And offensively, the quarterback is so dynamic. He can throw, he can run, he’s just a smart kid back there and is dangerous.

“With a team like that, I was overall happy with how our defense played. We just couldn’t do anything on offense.”

WKTV Game of the Week

Our 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. Watch at home on your Smart TV in brilliant HD.