MUSKEGON TWP. - The Reeths-Puffer football team experienced a head-spinning change of momentum between the end of its first game and the start of its second.
The Rockets came out of Week 1 feeling pretty confident, despite an 18-12 loss to Forest Hills Central. They rallied late, got their passing game going and reduced an 18-point deficit to a six-point spread in the final 10 minutes.
They were pumped up about hitting the field again last Friday against Caledonia.
But the Rockets were quickly ambushed by the Fighting Scots.
Caledonia returned the opening kickoff to the R-P 10 and scored a touchdown on its first possession. Then the Scots continued to pour it on, scoring on their second possession with a 32-yard pass, on their third with a four-yard pass, on their fourth with a 16-yard pass, and on their fifth with a five-yard run.
The score was 21-0 after one quarter and 41-7 by halftime.
The Rockets got their offense going a bit in the second quarter and second half, scoring three touchdowns, but there was little chance of a late comeback in this one.
Now the Rockets are regrouping in practice and preparing to visit Spring Lake on Friday in another non-conference matchup.
Some fans may see that as a perfect opportunity for the team to get moving against an opponent they beat last year.
But Spring Lake, which was 3-6 last season, will come in with a 2-0 record and a head of steam, after opening the season with big victories over Fruitport (42-14) and Gladwin (49-14).
The momentum carries back to the end of last season. The Lakers have outscored opponents 199-72 in their last four games – two at the end of 2024 and the first two this year.
Against Gladwin, Spring Lake had a 414-219 yard advantage in total offense.
R-P head coach Cody Kater noted that Spring Lake head coach Cody Mallory is in his fourth season, and appears to have his program where he wants it to be.
“They are off to a great start,” he said. “Cody does a great job there. They will be really confident going into this thing. They are going to be ready to challenge us on some things we have struggled with, like discipline and a sense of aggression. We will have to go in there and see who we are.
“We are kind of beaten, but battle-tested. We’re going to have to do our best to find confidence and see what we can do.”
A focus on improving
So what went so wrong for the Rockets against Caledonia?
“I think the (opening) kick return set them up, but there were two fourth downs where we could have stopped them, and it might have changed the start of the game a bit,” Kater said. "Prior to watching the film I just thought we got manhandled, but then we watched and it looked like were were playing with a sense of pressure and panic that I had not seen out of these guys before.
“They just got the train rolling a bit and it was hard for us to find a way to stop it. The kids were kind of panicking on defense, and offensively we just kind of got off to a slow start again.
“It was definitely a combination of things. Our errors came in the most critical of times.”
The final stats tell the story.
Caledonia had a big 356-162 advantage in total offense. The Fighting Scots also had much more success in converting on key plays. They were 7-for-12 on third down conversions and 3-for-3 on fourth downs.
The difference did not come in the passing game, despite the fact that the Fighting Scots scored five touchdowns through the air. Caledonia only had a 142-135 edge in total passing yards, and R-P quarterback Braylon Swain had a decent performance, completing 17 of 26 throws with two touchdowns.
The big difference came in the ground game. Caledonia had a massive 217-27 yard edge in rushing yards, which suggests that the Rockets struggled badly on the offensive line, but Kater said that was not necessarily the biggest problem.
“Honestly I think it’s the connection between the quarterback, running backs, wide receivers and line,” he said. “Just a lack of knowing where the ball should go at certain times, because of our spread system. We’re not quite there yet.”
Obviously R-P fans are going to be focused on the team getting a win at Spring Lake, because the schedule does not get any easier the following week when the Rockets visit always tough Mona Shores.
But Kater insists that wins and losses are not the focus at the moment. The coach says the team has to look inward and concentrate on hard work, discipline and improvement, to become the best possible version of itself.
If the players stay in “the process,” the game results will eventually take care of themselves.
“We’ve got to stay in the process,” the coach said. “We are doing a great job of those things in conversation, but it has to be about actions in the weight room and on the practice field. Outsiders just look at the results (on the scoreboard). We are doing our best just to stay in the process.”