While Hart continues to show signs of growth and optimism for the future, things have been rough for Shelby and Hesperia as we head into week seven of the football season. But none of the squads are giving up as they head into more challenging games this Friday.
Shelby vs Oakridge
The way Montague was rolling through the rest of the West Michigan Conference boded poorly for Shelby last week, and sure enough the Wildcats were too much for the Tigers in a 70-0 defeat.
Shelby (0-6, 0-5 WMC) ran 39 offensive plays and gained only 39 yards, turning the ball over four times. One of those turnovers was a Montague pick-six, and the Tigers also surrendered a safety, with the ensuing kick returned for another touchdown.
Isaiah Garcia and Travis Boughan connected through the air three times for 37 yards, providing the Tigers’ offensive highlights. Boughan began the year as the quarterback, but Shelby coach Phil Fortier said the offense works better with Boughan’s athleticism at receiver and Garcia taking the snaps, in part because Garcia has improved over the course of the season.
“Travis is a football player,” Fortier said. “He’s a great blocker as a tight end and a wide receiver, and he’s a good receiver. They have a chemistry. We’re just playing to their strengths more. Isaiah, at the beginning of the year, wasn’t ready to do what we’re asking him to do now.”
On defense, Cade Clement had 3.5 tackles. Montague only ran 20 offensive plays, limiting the Tigers’ chances to put up numbers on defense.
The Tigers never seem to catch a break in the schedule, as they’ll next travel south to face Oakridge, whose only WMC blemish to date came against Montague. The Eagles are coming off a 32-27 slugfest win over North Muskegon.
“I fell into the trap of looking at the teams we’ve played and their records,” Fortier said with a chuckle. “Heck, White Cloud is 4-2. We’ve played a lot of four and five-win teams to this point. But we don’t care. We’ll line up Friday night and go compete and do the best we can.”
Clearly the key player for Oakridge is running back Corey Vanderputte, who not only rang up 265 yards rushing against the Norsemen but also recorded the game-clinching interception on the other side of the ball.
“We have to stop their run game, especially out of the T (formation),” Fortier said. “Vanderputte is lightning. He’s such a good athlete, and they want to give him the ball. He’s not the only weapon out there. They throw it pretty well. But it’s pretty obvious, when they played Whitehall (in week two), they got into the T and started handing the ball off.”
Clearly the Tigers would like to be having more success on the scoreboard, but Fortier knows this is a process, and despite the record, he likes how his players are going about their business this season. He pointed to a conversation he had with one player after Friday’s game, where the player pointed out that the Tigers began the game doing the fundamental things well, and just ran out of gas later trying to slow down the potent Wildcat attack.
“What that tells me is our training is working, but as we get later in the game, we get tired and deviate,” Fortier said. “We also took some steps forward. This is who we are, and we’re looking at our progression of things getting better.”
Hesperia vs Holton
Hesperia’s football season has devolved into a week-by-week, or even day-by-day, proposition, as injuries and COVID-19 disruptions have plagued the program for several weeks.
The Panthers took a 70-7 beating to Morley-Stanwood Friday night on homecoming, in large part due to their shorthanded lineup. Coach David Smith said he’s straining just to get 11 players on the field right now.
“I’d like to be able to coach football and have players and stuff like that,” Smith said. “It’s not the kids’ fault but it’s the hand we’re dealt right now. It’s frustrating because at the beginning of the year I had a nice team, but I haven’t been able to play my whole team all year.”
The only real highlight for the team was a 65-yard touchdown pass from Armando Escobedo to Travis Kurtz, which accounted for over half the Panthers’ offensive yards in the game.
In addition to virus problems, the Panthers (0-5, 0-2 Central State Activities Association Silver) have also been hit with injuries and disciplinary issues. The team’s best offensive performer to date, Brandon Quinn, has been dismissed from the team for the latter, Smith said.
“It’s like the first week of practice every week this year,” Smith said. “We have no consistency between COVID, discipline, (everything). You can’t get ready for an opponent if you can’t get 11 guys on the field.”
In normal circumstances, a rivalry showdown with Holton would be just the thing to get a downtrodden team focused, but the Panthers don’t even know, Smith said, if they’ll be able to field a team this week. Holton, meanwhile, just played a very competitive game, albeit in a 50-38 defeat, against Kent City, so the Red Devils will be coming in off one of their better games.
Austin Fowler, the Holton quarterback, had a big game against Kent City, with 296 passing yards, including several big plays, so if Friday’s game is played, the Panthers will have to guard against the pass in addition to the run. But with so much on its plate right now, Hesperia is far less worried about Holton than itself.
“I’m rolling out less than a JV team right now,” Smith said. “The kids are doing the best they can.”
Hart vs Whitehall
Hart had some offensive success Friday night against Ravenna, but turnovers proved the Pirates’ undoing, as they had five giveaways in a 41-14 loss to the Bulldogs.
The Pirates (2-4, 0-4 WMC) moved the ball fairly well, gaining over five yards per play and 276 offensive yards overall. However, they threw three interceptions and lost two fumbles, and two of the turnovers were on Hart’s first two drives of the game.
Hart was able to get in the end zone on its third possession when Kellen Kimes hit Chance Alvesteffer for a 30-yard touchdown, cutting Ravenna’s lead to 14-6. But a Bulldog touchdown and another turnover on Hart’s next drive in its own territory set Ravenna up to go ahead 28-6 at halftime. Hart never threatened Ravenna’s lead from there.
Pirates’ coach Joe Tanis said the turnovers were likely a result of the team pressing after falling behind but also credited Ravenna’s defensive speed and effort with being factors.
“One fumble was a direct result of Ravenna having great ball skills and attacking the football all night long,” Tanis said. “We ended up getting way more penalties than normal (as well) and again, I believe speed played a part in that. I think we need to continue to hammer home the value of the football and do a better job demanding it in practice.”
Hart’s offensive success was mostly limited to grind-it-out drives, as plays that might have gone for huge gains against lesser foes were limited to short gains by the Bulldog defense.
Ravenna was able to slice through the Hart defense for over nine yards per play, led by 100-plus rushing yards from both Hunter Hogan and Clay Schullo. Tanis said the Bulldogs earned most of the credit and felt his defense mostly did the right things; Ravenna just did them better.
“We forced them to execute the pitch phase (of their offense) faster than most teams and they played a clean game with the football,” Tanis said. “They had some plays where guys made catches in double coverage, etc. They showed the ball skills they have in that group.”
Hart’s defense will have to play even better to have success against their next foe, Whitehall. The Vikings are as explosive a team as there is in the WMC, led by bruising running back Alec Pruett, who went for 308 yards in a 49-0 win over Ludington a week ago. They also have weapons on the outside, like Brodie Fogus, Red Watson and Nate Bolley, the latter of whom had over 200 yards offense in his own right last week.
“We are going to have to do a better job tackling in space and finishing our tackles,” Tanis said. “But our focus though has to be cleaning up our mistakes from last week and putting together a complete game on the field. So making sure we always have great alignments and are giving great effort will be critical. I was really happy with how our kids played physical football for a full four quarters last Friday. So our challenge this week will be all about bringing our best for four full quarters and executing at a higher level.”
