MUSKEGON TWP. - Varsity football is tough enough for a team with a lot of inexperience at that level.
The Reeths-Puffer football team, which has been starting eight or nine sophomores in recent weeks, has even more challenges, with three traditional state power opponents built into their schedule.
Muskegon, Mona Shores and Byron Center are all great, year after year, and they are all in the O-K Green, the Rockets’ conference, so R-P plays them every season.
Muskegon and Mona Shores have both been ranked in the top 10 in the state in Division 2 this year, with the Big Reds currently ranked No. 2. Byron Center, a Division 2 state finalist last year, is 4-3, but all three of its losses have come against top 10 Division 1 or 2 teams.
R-P's Braylon Swain lofts a pass last Friday. Photo/Tyler Lirones
So far this season, R-P’s experience against the three powerhouses on the schedule has not gone particularly well.
The Rockets lost to Mona Shores 48-7 in Week 4 and Byron Center 42-7 last Friday.
R-P is 2-5 on the season, so those obviously have not been the only losses, but the Rockets have been far more competitive against other teams on their schedule.
Against Forest Hills Central, Caledonia, Spring Lake, Grand Rapids Union and Forest Hills Northern, they’ve been outscored by a total of 19 points, 151-132. Against Mona Shores and Byron Center, they’ve been outscored 90-14, a point differential of 76.
Muskegon is visiting Rocket Stadium on Friday night, the last of the three big powers on the schedule. The following week R-P will close out the season with a non-conference home game against Forest Hills Eastern.
R-P's Hudson Roberts (90) makes a tackle. Photo/Tyler Lirones
The Rockets are hoping things will go better against the Big Reds than they did against Byron Center. That contest followed a familiar script, with R-P getting off to a slow start and trailing 28-7 by the end of the first quarter.
The game was close for a moment with a 14-7 score, after R-P quarterback Braylon Swain connected with senior Mason Darke on an 81-yard touchdown pass, but the host Bulldogs took control after that.
Darke finished with eight catches for 145 yards. Ethan Vossekuil had four catches for 20 yards and JaMicheal Williams had two for 14 yards.
Swain completed 10 of 16 passes for 134 yards.
Defensively, Cal Millis led the way with five tackles and six assists, followed by Connor McManus (4, 7) and Travis Henderson (4, 4).
Working toward competitiveness against elite rivals
R-P’s level of success against the Big 3 in the conference has to improve at some point, because the Rockets are not leaving the O-K Green, and those rivals always seem to be really good, at the very least, every season.
A real sign of progress for the young Rockets would be playing a competitive game against one of those teams, and keeping the score relatively close for most of the contest. If they can keep things close deep into a game, anything could happen.
That’s the hope for Friday night against Muskegon.
Beating the Big Reds has always been difficult for Reeths-Puffer, even in its really good years. Overall the Rockets are 1-25-1 against Muskegon and have lost the last 14 games, dating back to 2012.
The Big Reds are a team on a mission this year. After reaching the state finals in 2022 and 2023, and winning a title in 2023, they tripped up last season, going 3-5 and missing the playoffs altogether.
R-P's Mason Darke tries to get to the end zone. Photo/Tyler Lirones
They started out 0-2 this season, with very close losses to powerful Grandville (44-40) and Rockford (30-26), but have since reeled off five straight victories, including a 39-7 win over Byron Center and a 28-12 victory over Mona Shores.
Muskegon can clinch the outright O-K Green championship with a victory on Friday.
“We have some really strong teams on our schedule, and we seem to be playing them when they are playing really well,” said R-P head coach Cody Kater. “We are not executing and taking their best things away from them, and they are able to do what they are comfortable doing.
“When we run into these teams, we just want to play competitively. We want to at least feel like we gave them our best swing, and that’s what we continue to fight for. It starts with coming out early in games and executing. Once we settle in, we get some stops on defense and move the ball on offense, but that’s after the score is already 21-0 or 28-0.
“We really want to improve our level of competitive character, and how we respond when things don’t go well," Kater said. "We want to capitalize on momentum, and find ways to get more success and more of a sense of pride in our play.”