MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Reeths-Puffer football team had to avoid an emotional trap on Friday, and that's exactly what it did with a 62-21 home opening victory over Holland in an O-K Green conference clash.
The Rockets rebounded with the big win after falling 28-10 last week to Mona Shores, and a week ahead of hosting rival Muskegon.
“I think we had a lot to prove to ourselves this week,” said Reeths-Puffer head coach Cody Kater about how proud he was of his team’s focus. “With the performance we put on the field last week, we had a lot to prove as a staff and the program as a whole. That was the mindset all week and we did our best to make it as competitive as we needed to.”
The focus showed immediately on Friday when senior running back Brody Johnson took the first Rocket offensive play 65 yards for a rushing touchdown.
R-P's Brody Johnson celebrates with a teammate. Photo/Joe Lane
Johnson also took the Rockets' fifth offensive play 32 yards for a touchdown before breaking the ninth offensive play for a 52-yard TD. The three Johnson touchdowns gave the Rockets a 21-0 lead before a Holland touchdown made the score 21-7 after one quarter.
Johnson had 158 yards and three touchdowns on four carries in the first quarter alone.
“The line really paved the way,” said Johnson about the holes his offensive teammates were creating. “Every day we get to the gridiron we grind. I have to appreciate them because they’re the reason I have so much success.”
In the second quarter, Johnson opened the scoring with a seven-yard touchdown run before senior Brooks Johnson recovered a fumble and rumbled home from 10 yards out to make the lead 35-7.
R-P's Bryce Ross heads up the field with the ball. Photo/Joe Lane
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” Brooks Johnson said about his first career touchdown since moving from wide receiver to the defensive line this season. “I’ll be on my phone and see defensive linemen get touchdowns. It’s super funny to watch, so I was like maybe that’ll happen to me.
"It actually happened and I couldn’t believe it. I was trying to hit a touchdown dance, but there were too many people.”
Rounding out the second quarter scoring was a 30-yard touchdown pass from R-P quarterback Antrel Jones to Bryce Ross, a 67-yard touchdown run by Brody Johnson, and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Jaxson Whitaker.
The Rockets led 56-7 at halftime.
R-P's Kameron Coleman finds running room. Photo/Joe Lane
On the first possession of the third quarter, Kameron Coleman collected a 10-yard touchdown run to extend the Rocket lead to 62-7.
Holland scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make the final score 62-21.
Brody Johnson finished with 270 yards and five touchdowns on just eight carries for R-P.
“It answered one of my questions,” Kater said. “I hadn’t seen our blocking work like that yet this year. It’s one of our pillars in our offense and we hadn’t seen it. So, it was nice to see it tonight.”
R-P's Stephen Salazar rushes for a gain. Photo/Joe Lane
Jones finished six-of-nine passing for 111 yards and two touchdowns while Coleman totaled 114 yards and one touchdown on eight carries.
While the Rockets are excited to move to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play, they’re aware of the need to prepare this week ahead of the matchup with Muskegon.
“I’m hoping we learned a lesson,” Kater said, referring to the Mona Shores disappointment. “We have to look inward on some of that. Maybe we put too much into last week and it got too big for us. I’ve got to do a better job of creating opportunities for these guys to learn from it. I’m looking inward and learning from it as well.”
