SN 8.28.2021 DONE1

The Sun and News, Saturday, August 28, 2021/ Page 17

Hastings holds TK to one TD in football opener

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

The Trojans couldn’t fin-

ish drives against the

Hastings Saxon defense and

that brought an end to

Thornapple Kellogg’s three-

game winning streak against

their rivals to the south down

M-37.

The Hastings varsity foot-

ball team scored a 30-6 win

over the visiting Trojans in

the 2021 season-opener

inside Baum Stadium at

Johnson Field in Hastings.

Hastings junior running

back Robert Slaughter said

he and his teammates really

wanted to get off to a good

start when the 8 p.m. kick off

finally rolled around

Thursday night after a day

that felt like it completely

revolved around football. At

least some of the Saxons

were itching to get their

hands on the football, but it

was the Trojans who received

the opening kickoff.

Hastings had to get its

spark from its defense instead

of its offense.

TK drove right from its

own 20 down inside the

Saxon 20 over the course of

eight minutes, but the drive

stalled there with a couple

tackles for a loss and two

incomplete passed by new

Trojan quarterback Carsen

Burbridge.

Hastings took over on its

own 19-yard-line and started

marching the other way.

Slaughter picked up a first

down on a fourth-and-2 at

midfield and then a minute

and a half into the second

quarter finished off a nine-

yard run in the end zone.

Slaughter rushed eight

time for 78 yards in the ball-

game and scored two touch-

downs.

Saxon quarterback Mason

Denton only passed the ball

once, a five-yard completion.

TJ Russell had 14 rushes

for 77 yards for the Saxons

and Daniel Harp ran nine

times for 57 yards. Harp and

Denton each had a rushing

touchdown.

TK did answer that first

Saxon touchdown before the

half, tying the game at 6-

with a 14-yard TD pass from

Burbridge to Zackary

Gibson.

The Saxons didn’t break

too many long runs with

their Wing-T offense

Thursday, but managed to

free up Slaughter for a

45-yard TD run with 22 sec-

onds left in the first half. A

two-point run by Lanny

Teunessen had the Saxons up

14-6 at the break.

The TK defense started

the second half the way the

Saxon defense started the

first, finally stymieing a long

Saxon drive. TK though

turned the ball right back

over to Hastings deep in its

own territory and Denton

scored with 2:34 to go in the

third quarter to put his team

up by two scores, adding the

two-point run for a 22-

advantage.

TK lost a fumble at the

saxon 31-yard-line on the

first play of the fourth quar-

ter and Hastings sealed the

win with a drive that ended

in a four-yard TD run by

Harp. A Teunessen two-point

conversion put the final

points on the scoreboard.

TK manged to get the ball

onto the Saxon side of the 50

two more times before time

ran out, but eventually it did.

Burbridge finished the

ballgame 14-of-24 passing

for 120 yards, a touchdown

and two interceptions. He

also led TK on the ground,

rushing 14 times for 40

yards. Jayden Garcia rushed

seven times for 37 yards for

TK and Tyler Gavette had

eight rushes for 35 yards.

Gibson had four recep-

tions for 22 yards in the

game, and senior back Jonah

Sumerhays had one big

41-yard reception.

Tori Melpolder and Meredith
Miersen. The junior group
also includes Maddie
Fortune, Erica Postma, Lija
Sverns and Amanda Wolf,
and Jessica Maier is a fourth
freshman to earn a varsity
spot.
Lurye said 13 of her 14

girls all play in the Far Out

Volleyball Club and all 14

play club ball, many of them

on the same high level teams.

“I am very excited to see

what this team can accom-

plish together,” Lurye said.

“It is evident that they truly

care for one another. They

have embraced each other,

all the way from our four

freshmen to our three incred-

ible seniors. I can confident-

ly say that I’ve never had a

team bond so tightly and

quickly in my 12 years of

coaching. I believe that if

they continue to pour their

trust into each other on the

court, the volleyball piece

will naturally fall together.”

The Scots are hosting a

17-team, WMVOA

Scholarship Tournament

today (Aug. 28) and then

have the Macayla Kohn

Memorial tournament on the

schedule for Sept. 11. The

OK Red Conference season

starts when the Scots host

Hudsonville Sept. 16.

Lurye expects Hudsonville

and Rockford to be the two

toughest teams in the confer-

ence this fall. The Scots will

see what they can do about

disrupting that.

“They have been working

really, really hard in the off-

season,” Lurye said. “In the

summer we have great turn-

out every day. These kids

want to work and get better.

The work they’re putting in

is getting recognized.”

Scots start out with runner-up

finish at OK Red jamboree

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

A whole new group of

Fighting Scots is holding its

own so far.

The Caledonia varsity

girls’ golf team finished sec-

ond to Rockford at the first

OK Red Conference jambo-

ree of the season hosted by

Jenison at the Meadows

Thursday on the campus of

Grand Valley State

University.

Unsurprisingly, the talent-

ed Rockford Rams won

Thursday’s jamboree with a

score of 166, but Caledonia

fought off the rest of the field

with a score of 187. East

Kentwood was third with a

196 and Hudsonville fourth

at 199.

Freshman Copelin

O’Krangley leads a whole

new Caledonia varsity line-

up from the one that shot

together during Scots’ 2020

regional round. She scored a

38 at the Meadows. Junior

Kiana Haywood was second

for the Scots with a 47, tying

senior teammate Ellie

Thelen. Senior Ella Trudeau

shot a 55.

The Scots also had juniors

Addison Deveney and Anna

Mince among their top six at

the conference’s first get-to-

gether.

O’Krangley was third

overall behind East

Kentwood sophomore Elise

Fennell and Rockford sopho-

more Jessica Jolly who each

shot a 36. Rockford had six

girls shoot 47 or better – a

score that was good for a tie

for eighth individually mean-

ing Haywood and Thelen

were tied for eighth as well.

Thelen does have some

varsity experience as she

spent time in the varsity six

throughout the fall of 2020.

She had the team’s fifth best

score at the OK Red

Conference Post-conference

tournament last season.

The Scots were back in

action at the TK Invitational

at Yankee Springs Friday and

will return to OK Red

Conference play at

Stonewater Country Club

Wednesday. The Scots’ next

home match is a non-confer-

ence dual with a tough Byron

Center team Sept. 8 at

Broadmoor Country Club.

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Ellie Thelen

SCOTS, continued from page 15

Thornapple Kellogg junior quarterback Carsen

Burbridge looks for an open teammate from the pocket

during his team’s season-opening loss at Hastings

Thursday evening. (Photo by Valerie Slaughter)

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