ROCKFORD ATHLETICS I HOME OF THE RAMS

Turnovers doom Rockford in opening 37-25 loss to Saline By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio Photo courtesy of Miles Postema In a game where both teams struggled with turnovers, Rockford made the lion’s share of them and lost a late 28-21 lead before falling to Saline at Rockford on Thursday, August 28. The weather was crisp for late August and a huge crowd was treated to an entertaining game for the vast majority of the contest before Rockford committed several late miscues to come up on the short end of the score 37-28. It is one thing to have your opponent force a turnover with a big hit or a strip on a tackle, but it is a totally different story when the errors were unforced. Saline suffered a fumble on a Rockford strip sack on their opening possession and the Rams later blocked a punt that they returned for a TD to take a 28-21 lead after falling behind 21-7 in the first half. But the Rams had one legitimate turnover on a big hit from the Hornets, but continued to add to their own misery as an errant snap set Saline up at the Rockford 20 that put them up 21-7 with 8:43 to go in the opening half. After the Hornets tied things up at 28-28, the Rams had another errant snap that killed their chance to retaliate and then botched the snap on the ensuing punt to give Saline a 30-28 lead via safety. A short kickoff gave Saline the ball in Rockford territory and they added a TD with only 3:54 to play in the game to make it a two-score game at 37-28. The game fittingly ended when Rockford suffered an interception to allow Saline to run out the clock. “There were definitely some positives coming out of the night,” said Rockford Coach Brent Cummings. “Our offense had a couple of impressive drives and it was fun to see our offensive line take control of the line of scrimmage and see our backs running hard. We were able to chunk and chip our way down the field against a very good Saline defense. But there are definitely some things in terms of protecting the football that we need to get better on. And I believe we will get better starting next week. Tommy Carr is a great player at quarterback for Saline and he made a great play on the touchdown that made it a 28-28 tie. You can see why he is a Division 1 player on a team that is loaded with them. Saline did some really good things and it was going to take a great effort to beat them but we just made a few too many mistakes at crucial times. Now we just need to dig deeper and come out next week and play the way we are capable of playing.” The Rams struck first on Saline’s opening drive when a bevy of Rams converged on Carr and forced a fumble to set Rockford up at the Saline 10. Three plays later senior quarterback Braylon Daniels bulled his way in off the left side to make it 7-0 Rockford with 9:39 left in the opening quarter. The Hornets answered with an 80-yard drive to knot things up at 7-7 with 2:43 left in the opening stanza. That was the point where Ram errors reared their head in quick succession. On the next play for Rockford a fumble following a pass reception set Saline up at the Rockford 35. Two plays and a 32-yard TD pass later it was a 14-7 Saline lead with 1:36 left in the opening 12 minutes. Two plays later a shotgun snap went awry and the Hornets recovered at the Ram 20. Several plays later it was a 21-7 Saline lead at the 8:43 mar of the second quarter. But Rockford showed great resolve in not only getting back into the game, but actually took a 28-21 lead in the final 12 minutes. The Rams marched 72 yards for a TD of their own to make it a 21-14 game with 3:50 left in the half. Hayden Peoples and Daniels both got consistent yardage and Luke Ahern did the honors from one yard out to cut into the deficit. Rockford then successfully stopped the Hornets on their drive to make the score Saline 21 Rockford 14 at the half. The Rams received the second half kickoff and continued to build on the late first half momentum. Daniels, Ryan Kerry and Peoples continued to gouge out yardage on the ground and Daniels hit sophomore Jack Cummings with a beautiful pass up the seam to give the Rams a first and goal at the four. Daniels did the honors to make it a brand-new contest on a four-yard gallop to knot the game up at 21-21 with 5:19 to play in the third. The Ram defense rose to the occasion and rode the wave of emotion to force a three and out and set the stage for a big play from the Rockford special teams. Senior linebacker Sam Cummings burst through the line and blocked the punt then scooped it up in stride to go 20 yards to make it a 28-21 Rockford lead with 4:21 left in the third quarter. That sent the huge Ram contingent into ecstasy and the Rams came ever so close to really stealing control before Carr’s heroics saved the day for Saline. Saline used 17 plays to march 68 yards before finding themselves facing a fourth down and goal from the Rockford 7. Carr dropped back to pass and found himself not only once, but twice in the grasp of Ram defenders but twisted out of both tackles and scrambled towards the line before firing a TD pass with 6:33 left in the contest to make it a 28-28 tie. Instead of having possession and a 7-point lead the Rams found themselves in a tie game and found the mistakes continuing to mount for them. Another botched snap on the Rams first play after the score that tied the contest set the Rams back and forced them into a punt formation. The punt snap sailed over the punter’s head and Rockford was forced to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety to give Saline a 30-28 lead. The Hornets returned the short free kick to the Rockford 45 and wasted no time expanding the lead. After a 39-yard pass set them up at the Rockford-two, Carr raced in from there to make it 37-28 with only 3:54 to play. A Hornet interception on the second play from scrimmage for all intents and purposes ended the game and Saline ran out the clock to claim the 37-28 victory. Daniels was seven of twelve passing for 72 yards with the one interception. Peoples led Rockford on the ground with 7 carries for 47 yards while Daniels added 62 positive yards on the ground but was dinged on the bad snaps and sacks to end with only 42 net yards on the ground. Jack Cummings led the Ram receivers with three catches for 44 yards. PJ LeBlanc led Ram defenders with nine tackles and Chase Pitsch added eight of his own. Luke Ahern and Wyatt Colson both chipped in with six tackles apiece. The Rams will journey to the lakeshore next Friday to take on an always tough Muskegon Big Red squad at 7:00 P.M. Muskegon fell to Grandville in a high scoring affair 44-40 to kick off their season.