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Page 10 — Thursday, September 22, 2022 — The Hastings Banner

Coaches expecting physical conference showdowns

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It is two weeks into the conference season
and only Hastings and Marshall have
unblemished Interstate-8 Athletic Confer-
ence records as the Saxons push for a third
consecutive Interstate-8 Athletic Conference
Championship.
The Saxons certainly won’t be overlook-
ing the Harper Creek Beavers who they face
this Friday in Battle Creek though. Marshall
just pulled out a 28-19 win over the Beavers
last week.
Hastings head coach Jamie Murphy said he
feels that Friday night’s game “will be won or
lost in the trenches. Our offensive and defen-
sive line will be challenged. Harper Creek is
a multi-dimensional team. They run the ball
and throw the ball well. Their running backs
are talented. But the most impressive part of
their team is their linemen.”
The Saxons have some outstanding line-
men themselves who helped power the Sax-
ons’ to 2-0 in the Interstate-8 last week.
Hastings rushed for nearly 400 yards against
Coldwater last week.
Delton Kellogg gets the Southwestern Ath-
letic Conference Valley Division season start-
ed at Lawton Friday. Both teams started the
season 3-1.
The Blue Devils’ lone loss of the season so
far came against Constantine.
“Strap it up. It is always our most physical
game of the year,” Delton Kellogg head
coach Ryan Bates said. “We didn’t get to play
them last year due of Covid. We didn’t have
enough kids to dress. That was going to be
our big Veterans’ game at home that year. We
had to put it on hold. Now, it’s our traveling
trophy over there this year.
We played them two years ago and both of
us came out of that game beat up. Both of us
had a couple kids that had to sit because of
injuries. That game is always physical and
violent, and the way Friday night football
should be. We have our work cut out for us,
and every week it gets tougher and tougher.
But, that is the way we want it.”
Thornapple Kellogg has its work cut out
for itself Friday night too. The Trojans are
hosting South Christian for senior night in
Middleville. The Sailors are one of three OK
Gold Conference teams off to a 4-0 start,
joined by Forest Hills Eastern and Catholic
Central, and are ranked fourth in the state in
Division 4.
The Sailors have allowed seven points or
fewer in three of their first four ballgames
including non-conference contests with
Grand Rapids Christian and East Grand Rap-
ids to open the fall.
While the Trojans were bested in their two
non-conference contests to open the season,
they join the Sailors, FHE Hawks and Cath-
olic Central Cougars at 2-0 in the conference
so far.
Lakewood is in the mix at the top of the
standings in the Greater Lansing Activities
Conference so far too, sitting tied atop the
conference leaderboard with Olivet as usual.
The Vikings and Eagles are both 2-0 in con-
ference play.
The Vikings step outside the GLAC this
week and are traveling to Ferris State Univer-
sity to take on Harbor Springs Friday evening.
Lakewood head coach Matt Markwart said
his team has not always been at the top of its
game on road trips and the Vikings will really
be looking to focus on having a strong start
after the bus ride to Big Rapids.
Maple Valley head coach Marty Martin
still has hopes that things can play out to
where the Lions are battling for a conference
title in the Tri-River 8-Man Football Confer-
ence this season, but those hopes all hinge on
a tough task this week. The Lions travel to
Grand Rapids to face NorthPointe Christian,
a program new to the Tri-River and eight-play-
er football in general.
The Mustangs have dominated foes so far
this fall scoring 224 points during their 4-
start. Only four eight-player teams in the state
have scored more points so far this season.

Local Standings (W-L), playoff points

Delton Kellogg 3-1, 42.

Hastings 3-1, 39.

Thornapple Kellogg 2-2, 32.

Lakewood 3-1, 30.

Maple Valley (8-player) 1-3, NA

Conference Standings

(overall, conference)

Interstate 8 Athletic Conference

Hastings 3-1, 2-

Marshall 3-1, 2-

Northwest 3-1, 1-

Parma Western 2-2, 1-

Harper Creek 1-3, 1-

Lumen Christi 1-3, 1-

Coldwater 0-2, 0-

Pennfield 0-4, 0-

OK Gold Conference

Forest Hills Eastern 4-0, 2-

G.R. Catholic Central 4-0, 2-

South Christian 4-0, 2-

Thornapple Kellogg 2-2, 2-

Wayland 2-2, 0-

Cedar Springs 0-4, 0-

Kenowa Hills 0-4, 0-

Ottawa Hills 0-4, 0-

Southwestern Athletic Conference Valley

Delton Kellogg 3-1, 0-

Lawton 3-1, 0-

Schoolcraft 3-1, 0-

Saugatuck 1-3, 0-

Galesburg-Augusta 1-3, 0-

Greater Lansing Activities Conference

Lakewood 3-1, 2-

Olivet 3-1, 2-

Stockbridge 3-1, 0-

Perry 2-2, 0-

Leslie 0-4, 0-

Tri-River 8-Man

Concord 3-1, 3-

NorthPointe Christian 4-0, 2-

Maple Valley 1-3, 1-

Britton-Deerfield 2-2, 1-

Morenci 0-4, 0-

Vandercook Lake 0-4, 0-

Here is a round-up of last week’s local grid-

iron action.

Hastings 46, Coldwater 0

Valerie Slaughter

Contributing Writer

It took less than two minutes for the Hast-

ings varsity football team to score all the

points it needed as the Saxon defense record-

ed a shut out against Interstate-8 Athletic

Conference rival Coldwater at Johnson Field

and Baum Stadium Friday night.

Sophomore Isiah Wilson scored on a

41-yard touchdown run to open the scoring

for Hastings and then capped off that first

possession with the two-point conversion that

put Hastings up 8-0 and the Saxons went on

to a 46-0 victory.

Hastings’ head coach, Jamie Murphy, point-

ed out that “defensively we played especially

well. Coldwater had a few nice long drives,

and our defense held them out of the end zone

on two different occasions. The big difference

in the game were the turnovers. A fumble

recovery, an interception, and three stops on

fourth down were big for our defense.”

After stopping the Cardinal offense, the

Saxons put two more scores on the board in

the first quarter on a 37-yard run by Lanny

Teunessen, with a two-point conversion run

by Haiden Simmet, and with a minute left in

the quarter on a 13-yard run by Robby

Slaughter and another two-point conversion

by Simmet. The Saxons led 24-0 at the end of

the opening quarter.

The second quarter was much of the same

with the Saxons driving down the field.

Slaughter scored twice more in the second

quarter with Owen Carroll running in one

two-point conversion and Slaughter kicking

an extra point. At the half, the Saxons led the

Cardinals 39-0.

“We played a well-balanced game against

Coldwater,” coach Murphy said. “Offense

mixed it up with inside and some outside run

plays.”

Murphy added that the Cardinal “quarter-

back Coffing ran for over 100 yards, but our

defense did a good job containing limiting his

long runs.”

The final Saxon score came from Gerald

Miller in the fourth quarter on a seven-yard

run, with the final extra point kick by

Slaughter.

The Saxons had six players score for the

night and tallied 398 total yards to Coldwa-

ter’s 198. Slaughter led the team on offense

with 153 yards on ten carries, with three

touchdowns and two extra point kicks. Wil-

son added 72 yards and a touchdown, Teunes-

sen added another 47 yards, and Landon

Steward added 35 yards for the night. The

Saxons had ten backs carry the ball.

Defensively, the Saxons had tackles by 20

different players. Aiden SaintAmour led the

team with 6.5 tackles. Teunessen added

another six, Layton Eastman and Simmet

each added 4.5 tackles. Daniel Weatherly and

Parker Roslund each had a sack.

Delton Kellogg 20, Allegan 13

Philip Halcomb led the offense and got his

hands on the football time and again on the

defensive side of the ball and the pile moved

forward most of the time when Ricky Ram-

sey was running through the line for the

Delton Kellogg varsity football team at Alle-

gan Friday.

The Panthers improved to 3-1 overall this

season with a 20-13 win over the host Tigers

to close out the pre-conference portion of the

schedule. DK opens Southwestern Athletic

Conference Valley Division action at Lawton

Friday.

“We were just playing as a family,” Ram-

sey said. “We’re brothers up in here. We had

a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, and things

didn’t go right, but we just kept pushing.”

Ramsey finished with 25 carries for 150

yards and three touchdowns. He wasn’t the

only Panther back having success. Wyatt Col-

well had ten rushes for 68 yards.

“Everybody was just doing their job and

some extra [on the offensive line]. We prac-

tice for a reason,” Ramsey said. “We execute

pretty well.”

“They were putting kids on their back,

getting riled up. That is what I like to see out

of my boys,” he added.

It is taking everybody in the program to

keep the success going for the Panthers. Inju-

ries started hitting the varsity team from the

get-go. Torren Mapes went down in the

defensive backfield after an interception in

week three. Vincent Quick, projected to be

one of the team’s top ball-carries this fall,

was injured in week two.

“It was interesting. We had two linemen

play DB’s this week [Luke Watson and Cole

Lane],” Delton Kellogg head coach Ryan

Bates said, “because of injuries. These guys

have never played those positions before. We

came in with a couple of guys we weren’t sure

were going to be able to play tonight and they

both stepped up. We had some kids come up

from the jayvees to play fifth quarter and

played big for us. I can’t tell you how much

this was just a team effort to pull this off. It is

amazing. These kids just seem to keep playing

like pit bulls and coming up with a play when

they need it and finishing people off.”

The Panthers haven’t started a week and

ended it with all 11 offensive players able to

remain in the same positions. Bates said Quick

has still been a key part of the team, moving

into a coaching role at practice and “pulling

these boys along and doing a great job.”

The Panthers lost another back, Mason

Nabozny, to an injury during Friday night’s

ballgame.

“I told my staff, I feel like we’re putting

together a 500-piece puzzle with two 250-

piece puzzles that don’t match,” Bates said,

“but Philip has been a tremendous leader. He

is just the warrior that kind of gets everybody

back going again. It has been interesting.”

DK recovered two Tiger fumbles in the

ballgame and Halcomb intercepted Allegan

quarterback Luke Ellis twice while nearly

adding a third interception.

“[Halcomb] is just a ballhawk man. He

just finds a way to come up with the ball,”

Bates said.

“It is amazing to me how me can come out

of nowhere and just come down with the ball.

I am glad he is on our team,” Bates added.

“Those were all huge for us to stop those

drives. Our offense stalled a couple times, and

we had some unfortunate penalties that put us

in a bad situation, and the [Wing-T] just

doesn’t work when you’re behind the sticks.”

Halcomb wasn’t the only one with a great

two-way night for DK. Ramsey forced a fum-

ble in the second quarter, pressuring the Alle-

gan quarterback and then sprinting back after

the pass was away to chop the ball out of the

receiver’s arms from behind. Watson recov-

ered that ball late in the first half to help

preserve a DK lead.

Delton Kellogg led 8-0 at the half in Alle-

gan, but Tigers’ talented young arial attack

found some traction in the second half. The

Tigers flew down the field to pull within 8-6.

The Panthers responded with a methodical

drive of their own to go up 14-6. It was a

15-play 74-yard drive that ended in a four-yard

TD run by Ramsey who had also scored the

only points of the first half on another four-yard

TD run and a two-point conversion attempt.

That second Delton touchdown drive was

helped along by a huge catch from tight end

Cole Lane on a fourth-and-11 play near mid-

field. Ellis, at defensive back on that side for

the Tigers, would have had to have been

inside Lane’s jersey to have any tighter cov-

erage, but the DK tight end came back for the

ball and secured it at the Allegan 13. Ramsey

scored two plays later.

A fumble recovery by Delton Kellogg’s

Philip Jorgensen early in the fourth quarter

helped the Panthers seal the win on an

11-yard Ramsey TD run with 6:45 to go.

Ellis, the Tigers’ quarterback, had some of

his own fourth down magic left. He picked up

a bad shotgun snap off the ground, dodged

Panther lineman Jason Lundquist in the back-

field, stepped up through the middle and the

out to the left and up the sideline for a

55-yard TD on a fourth-and-8 play with 3:

to go in the game. The extra-point had the

Tigers within 20-13.

Delton Kellogg’s offense was able to run

out the clock though, with Halcomb kneeling

down three times inside the Tiger five-yard-

line in the end.

The Panther program has had a number of

massive, talented offensive linemen graduate

in recent years.

“We don’t have those kids right now,”

Bates said. “What we have right now are a

bunch of dudes that are about 160 to 190

pounds with a chip on their shoulder and little

man syndrome, and they’re just going to get

after it. Our center and our two pulling

guards, people look at them and we had

South Haven last week and those dudes were

just mammoth up front, and these dudes are

just blowing them three to five yards off the

ball every play. It is amazing how they can

move those piles.”

That center of the Delton Kellogg line was

outstanding again in Allegan with Adrian

DeBoer at center between guards Maverick

Thomas and Watson.

Thornapple Kellogg 30, Ottawa Hills 6

On three consecutive snaps in the final

minute of the first half the Trojans blocked a

Bengal punt, got a ten-yard TD pass from

Carsen Burbridge to Tyler Gavette and had

Ethan Bonnema intercept an Ottawa Hills’

pass attempt.

It was the culmination of a 30-6 first half

surge at Houseman Field in Grand Rapids

Saturday and the Thornapple Kellogg varsity

football team eventually won by that final

score to improve to 2-2 overall this season

and 2-0 in the OK Gold Conference.

Bonnema had two interceptions on the day

and also had a team-high 72 rushing yards, on

just two carries. Burbridge was 4-of-7 pass-

ing for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Gavette

recovered the blocked punt late in the second

quarter, had a touchdown rush, a touchdown

reception and a team-high 42 receiving yards

on three catches.

That big finish to the first half for TK real-

ly started with Bonnema’s 65-yard touch-

down run with 5:40 to go in the first half. It

came on the first snap after the Bengals’ lone

score of the ballgame.

See FOOTBALL, page 12

Delton Kellogg's Wyatt Colwell leaves his feet to bring down Allegan receiver Nolan Rynearson with the help of teammate Philip

Jorgensen (26) during the first half of their Southwestern Athletic Conference crossover contest in Allegan Friday. (Photo by Brett

Bremer)

A wide open Jett Barnum makes a two-point conversion catch for the Saxons during
their I-8 victory over visiting Coldwater inside Baum Stadium at Johnson Field Friday.
(Photo by Jason Slaughter)

Delton Kellogg defensive back Philip Halcomb makes a diving attempt at hauling in

an interception during the second half of his team's victory at Allegan High School

Friday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)