Football results

By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor

Fennville 36 Watervliet 32

In a game that went back and forth throughout, Fennville managed to hold on for the victory over Southwestern Athletic Conference non-divisional rival Watervliet on Friday, Sept. 12.

The Blackhawks trailed 32-28 late in the fourth quarter before quarterback Miguel Aldaco scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to put Fennville ahead for good.

Taylor Crane added the conversion run to account for the final two points of the game.

Watervliet threatened to retake the lead in the game’s closing minute, but the Fennville defense stopped the Panthers 10 yards short of the end zone.

“This was a great high school football game,” Fennville coach Tim Schipper said. “Our kids faced lots of adversity, but we stuck with it to get a win.”

Fennville opened the game’s scoring on the first of Aldaco’s TD runs. But Watervliet answered with three touchdowns of its own—including a scoring run and a scoring pass from Kevin Bryce—to go up 20-8.

The Blackhawks (2-1) made it 20-14 at the half thanks to a TD pass from Aldaco to L.C. Cooper before knotting things at 20-20 on Chico Beach’s scoring run to start the second half.

From there the teams exchanged two touchdowns each, with Fennville having the final say on Aldaco’s second scoring run.

Trevor Crane accounted for the other Fennville touchdown.

Aldaco finished 18-of-31 passing for 131 yards to go with 55 rushing yards. Only Beach had more ground yards with 82 on 14 carries.

“Miguel made some big plays on offense,” Schipper said.

Trevor Crane and Wes Leonard were among the defensive leaders for Fennville.

Hamilton 44 Wyoming Park 14

The good times continue to roll for Hamilton.

The Hawkeyes improved to 3-0 thanks to a blowout victory over Wyoming Park in the opening game of O-K Green play on Friday, Sept. 12.

In the win, five different players found the end zone for Hamilton. Corey Schroteboer was the only Hawkeye to score more than once, hauling in touchdown passes of 20 and 33 yards from quarterback David Ptacek.

Austin Schild (35-yard run), Eric Brunger (20-yard fumble return), Alex Kronemeyer (25-yard pass from Ptacek) and Justin Hamm (15-yard run) also scored for Hamilton.

In spite of the final score, the game remained close into the second quarter as Mark Thrash scored on an 8-yard run for Wyoming Park to make it 8-8.

The remainder of the game, however, belonged to Hamilton.

The Hawkeyes scored the next 36 points—including 22 in the second quarter to take a 30-8 halftime lead—to pull away.

Schild led Hamilton with 121 yards on nine carries, while Ptacek completed 3-of-9 passes for 63 yards. All of Ptacek’s completions went for TDs.

Hopkins 47 Kent City 6

Hopkins quarterback Jeremiah Pavlak doesn’t get many opportunities to throw the ball in coach Rex Weaver’s Wing-T offense.

But when he does get the chance, Pavlak makes the most of it.

Pavlak completed both of his passing attempts, including one that went for a 45-yard touchdown to Bradley Teusink, to help Hopkins cruise past Kent City in the O-K Silver opener for both teams.

Cameron Crowe added three rushing touchdowns for Hopkins, all of them coming in the second quarter.

The Vikings, who upped their record to 3-0, have now outscored their opponents 127-18 and have allowed just six points in each of those three games.

In addition to his passing TD, Pavlak also got into the end zone via his legs, scoring on a 4-yard run that provided the only points of the first quarter.

Then it was Cameron Crowe’s turn.

Crowe scored on runs of 10, 15 and 25 yards, respectively, to give the Vikings a comfortable 28-0 lead.

Kent City made it 28-6 at halftime thanks to Josh Meyer’s 48-yard pass to Chris Funk, but the Falcons (1-2) would get no closer.

Highlighted by Pavlak’s pass to Teusink, Hopkins added three touchdowns in the second half to put the finishing touches on the win.

Martin 0 Hartford 49

Hartford entered its Southwestern Athletic Conference non-divisional game with Martin on Friday, Sept. 12, averaging 47 points per game during its first two games.

That was bad news for a Martin defensive unit that surrendered 54 points to Decatur a week earlier.

Hartford scored 14 first-quarter points and never slowed down, going up 35-0 at halftime en route to the shutout victory.

Martin played the game without starting quarterback Raymond Brenner, who was injured in the Decatur game but is expected back in the Clippers’ SAC North opener with Fennville on Friday, Sept. 19.

“We’re still struggling on defense,” Martin coach Mike Hause said. “And on offense, it was tough getting going without our starting quarterback. But we didn’t help the backup very much either.”

George Allen and Ryan Reed led the offensive onslaught for Hartford (3-0). Allen went for 194 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, while Reed had 192 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries.

For Martin (0-3), Ashton Bowling had a team-high 53 yards on 14 carries. Billy Borudo added 40 yards on 11 carries and hauled in Martin’s lone completion of the night for a 13-yard gain.

Kyle Jager completed the lone pass he attempted for Martin, which went 1-of-4 passing overall.

Plainwell 10 Three Rivers 32

The one-two punch of Dan Shutes and Drew Bosma was too much for Plainwell to overcome in its Wolverine Conference clash with Three Rivers on Friday Sept. 12.

Shutes scored two touchdowns and Bosma added three more as the Wildcats improved to 3-0, dropping Plainwell to 1-2 in the process.

Shutes got things rolling for Three Rivers, returning a first-quarter punt 67 yards for the score. That made it 6-0 in favor of the Wildcats.

Plainwell kicker Shane Lyons’ 23-yard field goal later in the opening period made it 6-3, but Three Rivers wouldn’t be denied.

Shutes hauled in a 17-yard scoring pass from Aaron Spence for the only touchdown of the second quarter, and Bosma ran for three second-half scores—1 and 2 yards in the third quarter and 1 yard in the fourth—to put the game away.

Tim Burnham accounted for the Trojans’ only TD of the night, forcing his way in from 1 yard out late in the final quarter. Lyons made good on the extra-point kick.

Burnham had a team-best 43 yards on 14 carries for Plainwell, while Kyon Dorsey had 40 yards on 10 carries and Joey Chester had 32 yards on five carries).

Wayland 7 South Christian 14

Wayland’s chances of defending its O-K Gold championship took a hit on Friday, Sept. 12.

Facing South Christian in the opening league game for both teams, the Wildcats simply couldn’t get it going offensively, finding the end zone just once and dropping a defensive struggle to the Sailors.

“They stopped us,” Wayland coach Jerry Diorio said of the South Christian defense. “That kind of surprised me. I thought we were prepared.”

South Christian struck first, breaking a scoreless deadlock with a 1-yard touchdown run from Jay Filson in the second quarter. The attempted two-point conversion run failed, leaving the score at 6-0.

It didn’t take Wayland long to respond as, later in the quarter, Anthony Castoneda scored on a 2-yard yard and Andrew Haldeman converted the extra-point kick to give the Wildcats a slim 7-6 edge at halftime.

But South Christian wouldn’t be denied, getting a 4-yard touchdown run from Brent Geers in the third quarter for the go-ahead-to-stay score.

In the loss, Jack Weick went 3-of-9 passing for 37 yards and ran for a team-high 72 yards on 10 attempts.