MUSKEGON TWP. – The people who run the Reeths-Puffer football program believe that the future is bright, and despite a 40-27 homecoming loss to Forest Hills Northern on Friday night, that belief continued to grow.
Junior quarterback Braylon Swain threw three touchdown passes. Sophomore receivers Ja’Michael Williams and Paul Smith each caught a TD pass.
Sophomore running back/quarterback Cole Piper rushed for 61 yards and a touchdown.
Those younger players, plus several others (mostly sophomores) have shown a lot of potential while taking their lumps and learning valuable lessons this season, and the coaches believe they will form a good team down the road.
R-P's Mason Darke (9) gets a block and finds running room. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“We’re starting six on offense and five on defense,” said R-P head coach Cody Kater about the sophomore class. “We’re going to have some learning pains. But I’m hopeful that we’re taking all the information in and that we’re learning from these experiences.
“I really wanted this one for the seniors and our community overall. I hope the community at least takes pride in the pride and effort that we showed.”
The Rockets totaled 277 yards of offense, gained 21 first downs, and scored 27 second-half points. They had their share of costly penalties and defensive breakdowns, but the determination to keep putting up points only ended when the clock ran out of time.
“We see it coming,” Kater said. “We’ve seen it in practice, We had a really good week of practice. We’re doing everything we can to show improvement.”
For such a high-scoring game, things definitely started out slowly.
Darke hauls in a pass. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets took the opening kickoff and drove steadily down the field, taking nearly nine minutes off the clock before finally punting. Neither team managed to put up much offense after that, at least in the first half.
The only score of the half came when FHN’s Owen Ostipow broke loose for a 15-yard rushing touchdown with 57 seconds left in the second quarter.
The offensive punching and counter-punching all came in the second half.
On the first possession of the third quarter, Ostipow scored on a nine-yard run and extended Forest Hills Northern's lead to 13-0.
R-P quarterback Braylon Swain gets a pass off under pressure. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Reeths-Puffer responded with a six-play, 65-yard drive that was capped off by an 18-yard touchdown run by Piper. The extra point attempt failed, leaving the score 13-6 with 6:19 left in the third.
The Huskies struck again with a 39-yard touchdown run by Colton Sawyer, and the score was 20-6 with 2:44 left in the third.
Forest Hills Northern then recovered its own squib kick on the ensuing kickoff and got the ball back. Three plays later, Ostipow scored his third touchdown of the night on a six-yard run, and FHN led 26-6.
The visitors undoubtedly smelled a blowout at that point, but it never happened, because the Rockets kept pushing back.
With 27 seconds left in the third quarter, Swain found Smith for a three-yard touchdown pass - which Smith juggled several times before hauling it in - and the PAT left the score at 26-13 heading into the fourth.
R-P's Paul Smith clutches the ball after catching a TD pass. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The big plays kept coming for the Huskies.
Ostipow threw Greg Williamson a 21-yard touchdown pass to give FHN a 33-13 lead just a minute into the final quarter.
But R-P wasn't done, either. Swain capped off a quick three-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mason Darke to cut the deficit to 33-20 with 10 minutes remaining.
Ostipow scored on a short run with 7:20 remaining to extend the Huskies' lead to 40-20 with 7:20 left.
R-P's Cole Piper (3) rushes the ball. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The final score came with 2:33 remaining when Swain tossed Williams a seven-yard touchdown pass.
FHN’s running game - and the Rockets’ inability to stop it - made the difference in the end. The Huskies piled up 363 total yards of offense, including 272 on the ground.
The Rockets are now 2-4 overall on the season and 1-2 in O-K Green Conference play. They will travel to Byron Center next Friday for another conference clash.
Kater is hoping all the lessons that have been learned so far can be successfully applied against the Bulldogs, who are 3-3 on the season.
R-P's Travis Henderson makes a stop. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“The effort is there, and that, along with the attitude, is in the right spot,” the coach said. “The only thing I think we’re lacking at times is execution and experience.
“We just played a senior-led team, and you know, we’re doing everything we can. They kind of just ended up being able to execute in smaller moments, but I’m hoping that our kids take these learning moments and move forward."
For R-P, Swain completed 10 of 12 passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns. Darke had four catches for 32 yards, Cal Millis had two catches for 38 yards and Williams had three receptions for 27 yards.
Piper got his 61 yards on 13 carries,
Millis led the defense with seven tackles and three assists while Connor McManus had three tackles.