MUSKEGON TWP. - Before the season began, Reeths-Puffer head football coach Cody Kater mentioned how nice it would be to get an early season win and gain some confidence.
Following Thursday’s big 56-7 season-opening victory over Greenville, however, it appears that the Rockets actually went into the game with an impressive degree of confidence, and that really made all the difference.
They got rolling right away, grabbing a 21-0 lead by early in the second quarter and never looking back.
Their night was highlighted by several big plays, including touchdown passes of 56, 55 and 20 yards.
Photo/Nick Fuller
Having that kind of swagger, and a belief in their abilities, was pretty impressive, considering the Rockets have most of the same players who struggled to a 2-7 record last season.
Somehow, the team that ended 2025 with four straight painful losses managed to take a nice step forward in the offseason.
Part of it was simple experience. The Rockets returned a lot of starters and major contributors from last season, including a lot of sophomores who stepped right into the varsity fire. Simply put, they took their lumps and learned from them.
But the real change came in the offseason, according to Kater. The Rockets focused hard on conditioning and improvement, then proved to themselves that they can be successful, in summer 7-on-7 games, as well as simulated games in an out-of-town team camp shortly before the opener.
Photo/Nick Fuller
“The kids walked out on the field on Thursday excited, and they felt some confidence going in,” Kater said. “It was nice to be able to walk off victorious.
“This really happened in the summer. In 7-on-7, we lost a few matchups in round-robin play, then came back and beat those teams later. That happened a couple times. Then when we went to camp at Eagle Village, we had a lot of situations that were very game-like, and our guys worked through them. They worked through some of those emotions.”
Of course teams always do some things wrong, and the Rockets had their share of errors on Thursday, according to Kater. One big difference from last year was how quickly and effectively they rebounded from those bad moments, he said.
“What I saw the most was the ability to recover,” Kater said. “We constantly talk about responding, and that was evident on Thursday. Maybe a play didn’t go their way, or they had a mental lapse, but then they came back and made the plays they needed to make. We really haven’t seen that here in a little bit.”
Great play on both sides of the ball
Kater couldn’t help but be pleased with what he saw from his team on both sides of the ball on Thursday.
The offense showed an ability to make big plays and sustain drives. The Rockets piled up nearly 500 yards of total offense, with 329 through the air and 157 on the ground.
Senior quarterback Braylon Swain had a great game, completing 16 of 23 passes for 329 yards and four touchdowns. Senior running back Ke’Ondre Sanders, a transfer student, rushed 11 times for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught four passes for 94 yards, including a 56-yard TD.
Swain connected with all of his biggest targets in the passing game. Senior Connor McManus had six catches for 147 yards and one touchdown, junior Jamichael Williams had four catches for 34 yards and one TD, while senior Brendan Guikema had two catches for 54 yards.
Photo/Nick Fuller
“We have an offense that people maybe didn’t think we had,” Kater said. “We saw how they have improved, and there is still a lot of room for growth. We really do think we can have a balanced attack.
“I was very pleased with Braylan’s poise and his ability to extend plays. With Ke’Ondre I don’t think we’ve seen the best of it yet. That’s something we’re looking forward to.
“With our run game, we figured out what they were going to try to do to stop us. Our offensive line did a good job. We just need to clean up the pass protection and give (Swain) a little more time. We like our quarterback to be able to sit back there (in the pocket) and dial it up.”
The R-P defense, which gave up a lot of points last year, also played extremely well, holding Greenville to one score and 153 yards of total offense – 107 passing and 46 rushing.
Photo/Nick Fuller
It was a total defensive effort, with 13 different players getting credit for a tackle or an assist.
According to the official stats, McManus was the leader in tackles with three while Garrison Niklasch had a total of five assists with one tackle, Paul Smith had three assists, Ty Ross had two tackles and one assist and Logan Sharpe had one tackle and two assists.
McManus had two interceptions while Niklasch had one pick, which he returned for a touchdown.
“I would say much improved from last year,” Kater said about defensive effort. “We had guys swarming to the ball. A lot of times we had four or five guys getting to the ball throughout the night."
Home on Thursday against Grand Haven
The Rockets’ newfound confidence will be put to the test on Thursday with another big non-conference home game, this time against a Grand Haven team that has a lot of similarities with R-P.
The Buccaneers are also coming off two straight 2-7 seasons. They also have a lot of experienced players returning, including some very very talented guys at the skill positions. Tthey are also coming off a big Game 1 win, a 35-35 overtime thriller over Spring Lake.
Like R-P, the Buccaneers displayed a balanced and dangerous offensive attack, passing for 204 yards and rushing for 149.
The Rockets played Grand Haven every season between 2014 and 2023, before taking a break from the rivalry the past two years.
Photo/Nick Fuller
R-P won the last two meetings, 41-13 in 2023 and 33-20 in 2022. They were 1-5 against the Bucs in the six games before that. The 2020 game was cancelled due to covid.
Overall the Rockets are 16-12-1 against Grand Haven, and this year’s renewal of the rivalry should be very interesting.
“We knew when we scheduled this one that it would be a tough matchup, with everyone they are bringing back from last year,” Kater said. “They have guys with Division 1 (football scholarship) offers and they have some Division 2 commits.
‘It will be a very interesting matchup on Thursday. I hope we can get a buzz going and get a lot of people there. It should be a really, really good game.”
