ROCKFORD ATHLETICS I HOME OF THE RAMS

By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio Photo courtesy of Miles Postema In a contest that played out entirely differently than the 35-28 Hudsonville win in the regular season, the Eagles had five touchdown plays that covered a minimum of 20 yards as they topped Rockford 42-31 before a huge crowd at Hudsonville on Friday, November 7. The regular season meeting saw the Eagles jump out to a huge 28-0 lead at the half before the Rams stormed back before falling by seven points. This game was a see saw affair for more than three quarters before Hudsonville scored two TDs in a 20 second span early in the final quarter to gain a 35-17 lead that firmly established their control of the game. Neither team had any problem moving the ball for the majority of the contest despite the score being only 14-10 Hudsonville at the half. The Rams actually outgained Hudsonville 383 to 333 yards on the night. Rockford had a pair of drives derailed during the course of the game by a personal foul that negated a 35-yard run by Luke Ahern and a long Brayden Daniels completion that was brought back on a holding call. Rockford also narrowly missed a 42-yard field goal attempt on their opening drive of the game. After being burned by talented Hudsonville quarterback Brady Van Laecke with scrambles in the first contest, Rockford did a pretty solid job of holding him in check via that avenue in this game. But Van Laecke took a pair of designed Quarterback runs to the house for 49 yards on each occasion to more than negate that stat. Van Laecke was also far more judicious in the passing game this time around as he only attempted 15 passes. Unfortunately, three of them went for touchdowns for Hudsonville and proved disastrous for Rockford. The game got off to a promising start for Rockford as they took the opening kickoff and marched deep into Hudsonville territory before Dawson Hoekert just pushed the 42-yard field goal attempt just wide to the left. Chase Pitsch then made a huge play for the Rams as he picked off a Van Laecke pass on the third Eagle play from scrimmage. That gave Rockford the ball at the 50 and they used 11 plays to get on the board first with Ahern covering the final yard with 2:33 remaining in the opening quarter. The Eagles had an answer though as they twice converted fourth down attempts to tie things up at 7-7 on a 7-yard TD pass with 7:43 left in the half. The Rams appeared to be on their way to taking back the lead but the personal foul on a long run set them back and forced a punt to Hudsonville. Van Laecke then took a seemingly harmless run off the right side and broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage before going 49 yards to give Hudsonville a 14-7 lead with 3:29 left in the half. The Rams answered this time though as they used up most of the remaining time in the first half before Hoekert nailed a 34-yard field goal to make it a 14-10 game at the break. The second half began with a bang for both teams as the Eagles first marched 70 yards in just four plays to assume a 21-10 lead on a 24-yard TD pass. Rockford then pounded the rock for 80 yards in just six plays to make it a 21-17 game. Ahern had the big play with a 55-yard run before doing the honors from two yards out. The Rams looked to have momentum on their side shortly thereafter as they sacked the QB on consecutive plays after being burned on a fake punt. But an illegal procedure penalty followed by a missed assignment forced them to punt the ball back to Hudsonville. With 10:24 left Van Laecke hooked up with Braylon MIller for the third TD pass of the game for that duo from 20 yards to make it 28-17 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. After an incomplete Ram pass the back breaker came for Rockford as Hudsonville picked off a pass and went 35 yards to make it a 35-17 contest just 20 seconds later. The Rams got it back to 35-23 when Daniels connected with Jax Eichbauer on a 7-yard TD pass with 6:06 left before they missed on the two=point conversion attempt. Van Laecke then applied the clincher for Hudsonville with a carbon copy 49-yard run for a score to make it a 42-23 game. Daniels tossed a final TD pass to Hayden Peoples to make it 42-29 before completing the two-point conversion to Dylan Gross to make it a 42-31 game. That was how it ended and the Eagles advance to the Regional round where they will play the winner of the East Kentwood versus Howell game that will be played Saturday at 1:00 P.M. The Eagles record stands at a perfect 11-0 going into that game. Rockford ends another fine campaign with a mark of 8-3. Daniels was 18-35 passing for 252 yards and a pair of touchdowns along with an interception. Ahern led the rushing attack for Rockford with 84 yards on only ten carries. Jax Eichbauer led the Ram receiving corps with six catches for 98 yards. Gross added 73 on five catches and Jack Cummings had three for 22 yards. Ahern also led the Ram defense with nine tackles while Landon Pierce added 8. Caden Leddy chipped in with seven while Otto Packard, PJ LeBlanc and Sam Cummings added 6,5 and 5 respectively.