LMCU High School Football Preview Show Playoffs Week 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
They motion purchase now sending him back play bake fist
fires across the middle. Touchdown has this man on a
little crossing route. Jack Dahn holds it in in traffick
this with a bullet deer in South Christian on the board.
Fourteen to six hand off from left to right, cutting.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Off Campaign us all more off to the races. Twenty
fifteen ten touchdown. He saw senior brother do what he said.
I can do it too. Campaign takes it from forty
two yards out and the Bulldogs extend their lead.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's almost game night, West Michigan. Time to hear from
the coaches and the guys who call the games in
the press box. Who's in this week's top ten and
what about the players of the week. No one covers
high school football like we do. This is the LMCU
High School Football Preview Show, exclusively here on ninety six.
Won the Game and powered each week by Lake Michigan

(00:51):
Credit Union. We treat our members like neighbors and also
brought to you by Meyer Kids, Food Basket, Jay and
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MKD Funeral Homes, Win Shoolers, Delicious Cheese Spreads, haulse Jepson

(01:15):
Physical Therapy, Discount Door and Montel Construction. And now here
are your hosts, Brett Pekina and Jason Hutton.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
It's always kind of sad we get to the season
finale of the high school football preview show. But the
good news is this weekend means district championships. On the
drive to Ford Field, It's presented by Vandalin Home Improvement,
and we start the show going into one of our
two Montel Construction coaches corners. We do it every week
in our one hour production and we're happy to have
a guy that we got way back at the start

(01:45):
of the season. But boy, if you haven't been following
the Bulldogs of Byron Center, they're right in a six
game winning streak and they had an impressive win over
Portage Northern at home the way it's set up with
their district forty seven to six last week, their head
coach Mark Cisco joins US coach Congratulations on the run,
And I guess I got to start with right. We
talked about remember at the start of the season. Now, tough,
that five game stretch was going to be. But how

(02:06):
big was that overtime when it was your homecoming at
home against Mona Shores.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
That was huge. I mean we talked about, you know,
if we had anybody left standing after five games, we
might be okay. And you know, we took it on
a tim pretty good at Muskegon. We had the game
when we got it down to twenty seven to seventeen
going into the fourth quarter, and then we just kind
of fell apart in the fourth quarter. But the fact
that our kids kind of battled in and got it
to a ten point game they're going in the fourth,

(02:32):
I think may have been that may have been like
the tip of the iceberg for this whole mess here.
And our week of practice Mona Shors week was really good.
It was way way more physical than it had been
the weak fire and kind of thought, okay, we might
have figured something out here, and our kids just super
resilient to survive that and then just have just raised
their level of practice intensity by leaps and bounds after

(02:55):
those first four weeks.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
I like to say, and this is coming from a
guy who's never coached football, like to say that when
you play a schedule like that, you come out the
other side and it makes you better. But what do
I know, right, So, now that you've experienced it, do
you feel like that really difficult schedule has made you better?
Because your six game winning streak would say it has.

Speaker 6 (03:12):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
I mean, you're not gonna get worse unless you just
decide that that's it for the.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
Year and you're just gonna hang up the cleats and ride.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
Out, ride it out. So again, proud of our kids
for doing that. And really what it did is it's
just uncovered some poor habits that we had going on
from coaches and from players, and you know, there are
some things that we just needed to fix and it's
glaring when you play those types of teams, right, those things,
those things pop out like crazy, and so they were
easy to identify. Our kids, you know, did a good

(03:39):
job of correcting those things and we got better.

Speaker 7 (03:41):
Because of it.

Speaker 6 (03:42):
Mark.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
One of the things you shared with us, and I
know Jay got into it deep with you because it
is interesting and not that other teams don't have this philosophy,
but you talked about, hey, I've got like five quarterbacks,
you know, because the way we do our system. We
train kids going up through the freshman JV ranks. I've
been to a lot of your JV games watching and
seeing what you guys do it. It is interesting. But
how has that helped you this year to manage the

(04:02):
quarterback position because you have a senior in Easton Whitchers,
And to me, coach, he's been amazing. I mean, I
give that guy a purple heart because I know he's
battled injuries, but yet he's gone out there, he's been
effective for you guys. He's been a great leader. So
talk about that a little bit and how you've had
to kind of manage that this season.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
It was figuring out, you know, what do you feel
like you can do? How well can you do that thing?
And then and just working around it where you know
last year, you know, before he got dinged up, you
know he was plugging him in after landing wasn't a
big deal. We were just watching the last year playoff.

Speaker 6 (04:33):
Gaming in Sports Central and he ran wild against those
guys and.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
So he can still run. He could still lose some
of those things, but we had to find things that
he was really good at and really liked. And you know,
he's been absolutely incredible. I think he's been playing nine
games and throw him for fifteen touchdowns and one interception,
you know, the first year starter for us, and throw
him for almost twelve hundred yards. So he is super
in that form. He's the meter never changes, you know,
practice wise, he's always good and so kids, there's any

(05:00):
shues you have watching him work, right, I mean, and
he and he won't say boo like he's a good
leader with his teams and so on and so forth.
But if you ask him to, you know, change the
oil in your car, he probably tried.

Speaker 7 (05:11):
So he's just one of those guys.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
Can't have enough of those guys. Marcisco, the head coach
of Byron, by the way, I need an oil change.
Get he maybe sweep. I'm right around the corner for
the field. Go ahead, Jay, Marcisco, head coach, and Byron
Sentaer joining us in the coach this corner coach. You know,
obviously last year, great season for you guys. You get
to Ford Field certainly had a lot of seniors that
graduated from that team. But you a lot of these guys,
either if they were brought up from JV or playing
as juniors, experience that playoff success. Do you feel like

(05:36):
that is an advantage for you guys this time year,
having some of that postseason success in winning in the postseason,
now that you're back there.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Sure, I don't know. You know, we don't bring up
very many guys because we don't have enough uniforms. So
that's one team we hadn't been where we used to
bring up anybody who wanted to come. So that's been
a little tough, you know, because there's kids that we
would certainly love to have, but we we just can't
do it uniform out of them, especially skial guys. But
I think the mindset changes a little bit over the

(06:02):
last two years, where you used to be like super
excited just to get into the playoffs and hopefully we
can win a game, and now it's just a different
feeling about that. And now I know what all these
other guys I've always been talking about, Dan Royan and
Colster and Sersma and Chain Fairfield, you know, that's just
the next phase of their season and they're just going
to get better, better, better, And so I think there's
a market change in mentality here. I don't know if

(06:24):
that's going to pay off in the long run.

Speaker 6 (06:26):
Or not, but it's certainly.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
A different feeling for our staff and our kids.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
You know, I look at Land and Tungate last year
as a leader. I look at campaign. I mentioned already
Easton Whitchers at quarterback. Cam's only a junior, but a
Division one running back. I mean, he's had some monster games,
but the strength has always been and how do you
preach that? Emphasise you see your team's play tough, but
it's it's the little guys that step in and do
this or do that, and they're appreciated by their teammates.

(06:53):
That's special, coach, that's family. How do you guys develop
that chemistry?

Speaker 4 (06:58):
That's a great question. I wish I could and knew
it right, But we've just been lucky to have some
kids that understand the roles, understand what they can do,
and we tell them, if you can show what you
can play, we'll find a place for you on the
field somewhere some you know, in some some facet of
the game, which usually starts, of course with special teamwork
and then or you know, scout teamwork on the scout

(07:19):
or scout.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
Deal will go down and go, hey, this corner is
really a pan in the rearly, we probably maybe need
to take a.

Speaker 4 (07:25):
Look at getting them involved in some stuff, and so
we try to recognize that along the way and just
and then I just reiterate to our team, like your
role in playing Timmins team has no bearing on how
we feel about you as a as a human being.
Like it doesn't matter. Like the best players aren't better
people because of that. And our staff does a great
job dealing with that. And part of it is just

(07:45):
the way we coach, right because our running backs coach
has those guys for four years, our d line coach
has those guys for four years. That's the only voice
they ever hear. And so I think maybe they have
a little bit better relationship because it's been four years
and not just too.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
And coach on a couple of those guys, I know,
Tate Brainbridge is one that we talked about. He's like
a Swiss army knife at the start of the year.
He hasn't disappointed. But go ahead and applaud some of
those guys on the airwaves because they certainly deserve it.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
Sure of course, like Tate, you know, he is the
Swiss iimon. He's played more players than anybody in our
program has over.

Speaker 6 (08:15):
The last two years.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
But he's played tight end, which he never played before.
He's played a little bit. He came in and play
quarterback this year when we were a little nicked up.
He's played strong safety, he's played free safety. He's our
long snapper, like, he can do all kinds of things,
and he doesn't get you know, people were looked at
his stats and he doesn't get challenged much this year
because he's been a pretty good player. Hudson Plowski right,
a five four and a half inch or five foot

(08:38):
five inch inside linebacker who might be the best defender
on our team. And he when you watch film, he's
the guy you see on film. He's rushed for two
hundred and thirty five yards for two tds. He's had
two tds receiving like, and he can do all those things.
And he's an All state wrestler. He's not afraid, he's
confident what he does and he's a smart kid. You know,

(09:00):
Aiden van dam.

Speaker 6 (09:01):
Nobody knows about him.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
He might be one of he's definitely one of the
top linemen in the Grand Rapid Aeria defensive linemen and
nobody knows. But again, if you start watching film, all
you see is seventy seventy, seventy seventy, And.

Speaker 6 (09:12):
They don't get a lot of public publicity because they
don't score touchdowns, right, and they don't throw for five
hundred yards. And if we get the lead, like we're gonna.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
Play guys, we're gonna get guys off the field and
start playing people immediately if we can do it. And
so from that standpoint, guys can kind of take a
little bit of a leadership role in their own position
group and then just kind of branch out from that.
So we've been really lucky with that.

Speaker 6 (09:33):
You know, Jack Simbovia, he's a four year starter attack on.
Most people don't know that he's played in forty six
high school football games so far.

Speaker 5 (09:40):
Wow. So you're going to play port at Central and
this will be the third straight year in the postseason
you've played him. He won the first two. How does
this support the Central team stack up to the last two?

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Well, they're better, right, I mean, they're really good. They
haven't given they've given up three point seven points a game,
that's no jokes, and they and they're good offensively. You know,
what they do is unique. It's hard to prepare for
Nick does it really well. We scrimmage them and then
when you watch them during the season, you see the
same stuff. And when you see teams like that, they're
the ones that get better because they're not changing things.

(10:13):
They're going to take what they do and do it well,
and then they're going to make little additions here and
there to make it really tough on teams defending them
or teams trying to move the ball against their defense.
You know, their base structure as sound. They teach it
from nine through twelve.

Speaker 7 (10:25):
They do a really good job of it.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
They've always been physical. When I was at Battle Creek Lakeview,
we used to scrimmage them at Jackson with Seleine Port
of Central Jackson and Battle Creek at Lakeview and it
was a blood bath. I mean I used to stard
defensive backs like you better have.

Speaker 7 (10:38):
Your head on his shove.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
These deaf from possets are coming like they're going to
get after you. So we feel very similar. You know,
we've scrimmaged them for the last I don't know, twelve
or thirteen years to open the season, So we.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
Have a lot of respects for their kids and their coaches.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
And just we see some mirrored things between the two
of us.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Mark, would you agree with this because I saw them
at the scrimmage at your place. Jay is not seen
him this year, and I would I agree with this assessment.

Speaker 5 (11:01):
Do you want to talk about that.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
I think their conference is down a little bit this year,
but that doesn't take away I think this is Mix's
best team.

Speaker 6 (11:08):
Your thoughts, Oh, they're really good.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
I mean they have you know, you know, Charlie is
probably healthy for the first time ever for a full
season at linebacker. And then you stick in the Nory
kid at running back and he's just got outstanding feet,
like he's just a and he's gotten better throughout the season, right,
And then you have the mcmally at quarterback, who's just
a really good football.

Speaker 6 (11:29):
Player, Like I'm sure he would be a starter on
every TV he played on. He's you know, you don't
watch him go oh ah, but coaching wise, you watching
no geez.

Speaker 8 (11:35):
I'd love to have that kid.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
He's just super, you know. And then the Client kid
at guard is he's he's like if you were making
teaching tapes for lineman, you would show him. You would
show him to your.

Speaker 6 (11:45):
Kids and say this is what it's supposed to look
like he runs well.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
He's got great pad level. So they have a lot
of that going on at every position. Like you can
pick guys off every position and make teach tapes.

Speaker 6 (11:55):
Of how they operate it.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
They're super well rounded all the way through offensively and defensively.
There's not weak places to go pick on. So that'll
be a real They're going to be a real challenge.

Speaker 5 (12:05):
Yeah, obviously they want to run the football and they're
going to run downhill right at you. How do you, guys,
how important is it for you guys to find a
way to slow that down a little bit to have success.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
That's pretty funny. I don't know if I don't know
if you can stop it right. So you just got
to survive the fourteen playing ten play drives.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
You know.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Two years ago they had a couple of the whole
first half, I feel like we never had the ball
and then we had a big special teams play in
that game kind of flipped at that point. But your
kids have to be like emotionally sound and just keep
battling away and hopefully somewhere in there you win a
first down or there's a penalty on something, and then
they get behind the change a little bit, and then
that changes the game, although you know the quarterback doesn't

(12:46):
necessarily make that easier right now.

Speaker 6 (12:49):
So and they have skill guys that can catch the
ball and run with the ball and make you miss,
like they have multiple kids that can do that.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
So I think the biggest thing is just just to
try to win first down and not get into second
and five and third and two and fourth and one,
because you're just taking in the teeth and hoping you.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Survived seven and three Byron Center ten and zero Portage
Central Division two District Final down at Portage tomorrow night.
It is our game of the week, brought to you
by LMCU on ninety six to one the game. He
is the head coach of the Bulldogs. Mark Cisco, Mark,
congratulations again and best of luck tomorrow night against the Mustangs.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 7 (13:23):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
For your one stop site for up to date schedules, scores,
and standings for the OK Conference in River City's alliance.
Go to West Michigan oksports dot com. Powered by the
great winning flavor of win Shoolers Chief Spreads.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
It's our final J and H Family Stores four pack.
Our four pack of games. Besides our games of the week,
we want to go round table on Buck Gino. We
welcome him in color analyst with me on Friday Nights
on ninety six one the Game and Tom Kender from
the Lake Shore on one oh seven m Us the
Moose with j and Hunting Guys welcome in. It's hard
to believe it's the season finale already, but we've got
great games, as it seems like we always do. Round

(14:07):
two District Final Action on the Drive to Ford Field
presented by Vandalin Home Improvement. So let's start with believe
it or not, we're not doing this game, and it's
one that we looked at, but because of press box
limitations and different things, we just weren't able to pull
it off. Division five J West Catholic at Grand Rapids
Catholic Central, which is different. It's usually been at West
Catholic the last couple of years.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
Well, can I just say that we all lose with
the fact that Bredbakitt is not calling this game because
that's the way it should be. But that's my opinion.
So when we look at this game and you just
look at the recent history, I mean the history of
this series goes back forever and it's it's really good.
But let's just look at the last couple of years.
In the playoffs. Two years ago, the late Counterwolf touchdown run. Yeah,
Falcons will tell you there was a holding call that

(14:48):
wasn't made. The Cougars will say it was a good
block either way. Grand Pitzkotock Center goes on to wins
to state championship last year. You know, I think West
Catholic was the favorite last year. And the block punt
and then Jamie Williams gets behind the defense and Callick
Central pulls it out again. They end up losing in
the state semi final. I'm a firm believer that the
winner this time around is gonna win the state championship.
I think these are the two best teams. Yes, they're

(15:09):
playing in the district final, but it's a great rivalry.
It's gonna be a huge crowd. I think Callic Central
is a little bit of a favorite, but as we've
just talked about, the favorite doesn't always win. You never
know what's gonna happen in this series. And that's what
makes it so much fun, is what's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Well, and let me jump in there real quick, just
because I've seen both teams recently, and I thought West
Catholic and I'm gonna go to you Buck next on this.
I thought West Catholic showed me something against seland West
with their toughness playing at home, maybe took a step
forward from when we saw him against South Christian and
that was a nice seven point win for them over
the Sailors. And then I saw Catholic Central's defense completely

(15:44):
dominate a Norfew team who then got blown out by
Forest Soils Northern the following week. So it kind of
made me wonder, Okay, how good was Northview's offense, Because Buck,
you saw it with the same eyes as I did.
Catholic Central look like, I would say, a notch better
than West Catholic. But then Central struggles with South Christian.
Now I know those are rivalry games, but it was
the same score as it was with West Cathoic and

(16:06):
South Christian early in the year, and I think the
Sailors got better. So how do you make sense of that?

Speaker 8 (16:11):
Well, that's why they pay me all the big box
strength and intense of all this.

Speaker 7 (16:15):
But what I would say about this.

Speaker 8 (16:17):
Is, I look at the common opponents South Christian is really.

Speaker 7 (16:22):
Kind of the Bell Weather.

Speaker 8 (16:24):
But we saw that in Week three. We saw Week
three South Christian team, which I think under Danny Brown,
even though you look at their record and how their
season ended, it was still a very much improving squad.
When they saw Catholic Central week nine, and I also
look at their conference. I mean, Catholic Central played very
low scoring games against some very good teams, and I
think that was Catholic here for the key for them,

(16:46):
as we saw against Daily West, it's not going to be.

Speaker 7 (16:48):
About their offense. It's going to be about their defense, and.

Speaker 8 (16:51):
It's going to be about not having breakdowns.

Speaker 7 (16:53):
Like Jay said, the Williams touchdown path at the end
of last year.

Speaker 8 (16:57):
Yeah, you had to block pun but they still had
to play defense and they couldn't have stopped them. Same
thing in the Connor Wolf touchdown run.

Speaker 7 (17:03):
Youve got to stop those guys on big plays.

Speaker 8 (17:06):
And I think for West Catholic to win, they're going
to have to have a superlative defensive game because I
think this is going to be another low scoring, very methodical,
very deliberate type of game by both teams.

Speaker 7 (17:18):
And I think this is.

Speaker 8 (17:19):
Just going to be another installment in the great rivalry
that is West Catholic in Catholic Central. I also was
very intrigued by West Catholic physicality in week nine. I
thought they were not a physical to week three and
they have ranted up substantially.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Tom Dendr your thoughts on the Felcons and Cougars Well.

Speaker 9 (17:36):
I played football back in the day at Muskegan Catholic Central,
and you know, we played both of these teams and
I thought we had, you know, definitely a good rivalry,
but a civil rivalry with both teams. Really Now, this
rivalry between these two is just nasty and bitter is
the only way I can describe it. I mean, the
Catholic Central people look at West as unsophisticated, the West

(17:58):
Catholic people look at the Catholic Central people as arrogant.
I mean, it's just a really great rivalry. They don't
like each other a whole lot. This game, I just
get the feeling that West Catholic kind of missed their
opportunity the last couple of years having this game at home,
and they really you could say they should have won
both of those games. They lost both of them. Now
it flips and the game goes over to the Cat

(18:19):
and you know Odin Spencer is a year older. He's
still only a sophomore, but he's a year older leading
the way. The Cougar's defense has been great all year,
but now their offense is rolling too. So I will
admit that score from last week West Catholic just blew
out oak Ridge, but I don't know. I still give
the edge to a Todd Colster and the Cougars at home.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
All right, Buck Geno, let's go to your game next
in Division six. I love this in all West Michigan
District Final ten and o Kent City and nine and
one Belding.

Speaker 8 (18:49):
Well, yeah, I'm off this week doing some parental fan duties.
I might skip and.

Speaker 7 (18:54):
Just go back.

Speaker 8 (18:55):
I might do the Building Kent City game by myself,
because this is a terrific matchup between two teams locally.
I just don't think it enough up and Jason being
from Building, I mean, I know he loves his Black Knights,
but just so many people that just don't realize the
good brand of football that both of these teams play.
Those Grop, the coach from Kent City who took over

(19:15):
for Bill Crane, has done a really.

Speaker 7 (19:17):
Good job transition.

Speaker 8 (19:18):
They did heavy year or they missed the playoffs in
the midst of that transition, but he's done a really
good job overall getting that program back on the speed
that coach Crane had that momentum for in Division seven.
Now they move up to six, and their prize for
that is getting a building team in the district final
that has moved down to Division six from Division five
last year. So this is an intriguing matchup. But both

(19:41):
of these team is very similar, run heavy, but they
do have the weaponry to go up top if they
need to. But these two teams played really really good
brand of football, and I know Jason and Thomas and
Kent City up close when they played Track County. I
think this is going to be really good matchup. The
thing I worry about for Kent City is building size,
and we worry about that for in Division six. Quite frankly,

(20:01):
Belding just has size that not a lot of other
teams have until you start looking at like, you know,
they look like a Division three or two or one
team that Division six, and so that's going to be
something that Kim City is going to have to contend with.
But they can limit their mistakes and don't give Belding
extra possessions. I think they can keep this one very close.
And when you get close down to wired, weird things happen.

Speaker 7 (20:23):
Well.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
Both teams run the flat tee the power te and
both have run their base stuff really really well this year.
I mean both. You don't see the trap as effective
in this offense anymore, but both of these teams have
ran that trap really well, Ethan King for Belding and
Logan Thompson for Kent City, and they both run off
tackle really really well. But you got to imagine that
with both teams knowledge of the offense, that whoever can

(20:45):
do something else a little better, who ever can throw it,
whoever can throw a little wrinkle in there, that's going
to be huge in a matchup like this, and you
because both these defenses are really good, and then you
look at it like Kent City. I'm just so impressed
with that Gropping company because they went nine to know
they didn't get a home playoff game. All these do
was go to Alvet and be a really good all
of that team. Now, if they can be Belding this week,
they will get a home game. That's how tough this
district is Kent City, as the three seed, will host

(21:08):
the number one seed from Region two District two, which
would be Montrose next week.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Tom Kendra, I'm going to you next because you saw
Kent City, as Buck alluded to in that game with
Tri County. I saw him on a video highlight from
last week's game, and I'm like, Andre Mead, Holy cow,
who is this guy?

Speaker 9 (21:23):
Yeah? Andre me just you know, watching their offense. You know,
they're tucked in in that wing tea and he's just
a six three, two hundred and thirty pounds athlete at quarterback.
He's committed to Grand Valley, so he's fun to watch.
But you know, both of these teams, they've been dominant
in their respective conferences that don't get a lot of credit,
you know, Belding in the ok Silver and Kent City

(21:45):
and the CSAA White, but neither of them has had
much playoff success recently. Sure, you know, you got to
go back to twenty seventeen. That's the last time Belding
won a district. Kent City has never won a district
title in football. But you look at the opportunity this year.
You know, like Jay alluded to, I think the winner
of this game. I think they're going to win the
regional too. They're gonna play the winner of Durand or Montrose,

(22:07):
and what an opportunity for both of these teams. The
winner of this team could very well find themselves in
the Division six semi finals, which is not something that
they're used to, at least recently.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
I know Belding coughed it up a few times against
ovid Eelseee and maybe that made it tighter than it
should have been. Do they get over that and have
better ball security in this one? And obviously can't sity
running that same offense. These teams don't fumble a lot,
but could a fumble or a key turnover maybe on
special teams be the difference in this one, Tom Kendra,
I'm gonna go right back to you. In Division four,
You've got an intriguing matchup here Spring Lake the Lakers

(22:41):
at seven and three at Unity Christian. This will be
played at Grandville High schol because Unity Christian doesn't have
a home field, so they kind of bounce around. But
Unity Christian at nine to one. In Boy they had
a shootout with Holland Christian last week.

Speaker 9 (22:52):
They sure did, and that's one of the reasons I
chose to spotlight this game is just so we could
look at Division four. I mean, we loved the play off,
but Division four has been something else so far. Let's
start with this district. You know, two great shootout win
Spring Lake over Godwin Heights and Unity Christian got all
they could bargain for again over Holland Christian. The other

(23:14):
district in this region, Big Rapids. They stunned undefeated Luddington.
You go to the other region and that's even crazier.
How about Grand Rapids Christian upsetting Battle Creek, Harper Creek
Portland forty two forty one in overtime over South Christian.
And then a couple of upsets three Rivers upsets Pop
Vicksburg over Edwardsburg. So I mean, just craziness in Division four.

(23:37):
Will this game continue that trend?

Speaker 8 (23:40):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 9 (23:41):
I guess when you look at Unity Christian you know,
they were so impressive in week eight forty two to
fourteen over South Christian in that revenge game, but you know,
maybe they were exposed a little bit defensively these last
two weeks. The lost of Pontiac Notre Dame, and then
you know, that dogfight with Holland Christian. You know that's
got to give spring Lake some confidence going into this game.

(24:01):
You know, Springlake they've won their last two meetings over
Unity when they used to play each other in the
Okay Blue. I think the spring Lake team can make
it a game because they can score points and they're physical.
What I like about both of these teams is their
senior quarterback. Two great leaders, Justin Phoebus for a Unity Christian,
a three sport guy, and Landon O'Donnell another three sport

(24:22):
guys committed to Ohio Wesleyan and lacrosse. Those two are
the leaders of these teams and they distribute the ball
to a lot of different ball carriers.

Speaker 8 (24:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (24:31):
I just think Unity Christian Phoebus they're a little better
if they have to go to the air, and that
might be the difference in this one.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
Well, you talk about Udie Christian giving up some points
the last two weeks. That was to two spread offenses, right,
and Springlake is not that. Spring Lake is a flex
bone triple option offense, and I think Udie Christian has
been a little better against the run. But you look
at it, Springlake has really been playing well offensively five
straight games at least thirty five points, seven of their
ten over at least thirty five points United. He has
only been held on thirty five points twice all year. Right,

(25:00):
so you think shootout in this game, you think there'll
be a lot of points. The thing about it is
both teams are ball control offenses at least can be.
Does that limit possessions? You just got to get a stop, right,
I mean that's the thing here. Each teams like, give
me a stop, get it too. Possession lead that'd be huge,
should be a fantastic game, Buck Janel, your thoughts, Well.

Speaker 7 (25:15):
I think this, I mean the four is wide open
now with all these teams, especially some one teed going
down early and also wanting to being backed out of
the Bicks.

Speaker 8 (25:25):
To the two seeds, but undefeated, and we know how
good they would this year. I just think this is
wide open. And you look at Unity Christian. Now, yeah,
they struggle defensively against talent Christian, but you knew the
Dave Iberger would have a good game plan for that game.

Speaker 7 (25:39):
I look at this just this way.

Speaker 8 (25:41):
I think Unity Christian. You know when they have made
their runs, usually there's something.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
That happens ahead of them.

Speaker 8 (25:47):
It kind of helps them.

Speaker 7 (25:49):
Don't get me wrong. They deserve to make those runs.

Speaker 8 (25:51):
But they've always had something happen where somebody gets knocked
out or somebody gets shifted somewhere in the bracket because
of how it worked out, and all of a sudden
they find themselves at Ford Field, and I think this
may be one of those years for that could happen.
Now they look ahead and they think, boy, there's a
collision course of Luddington. It was potentially there. Escanaba's still
in that district is the one seed, boy, But these

(26:14):
these matchups have seemed to favor Unity Christian and I
think going into this game, if they can pull this
one out, I think this may be the toughest game
they're going to have in the playoffs until they get
to the finals.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
If everything ramps out right because of the other teams.

Speaker 8 (26:29):
You know, a risk for them might be Portland in
the semis, but you know, after that, it's very possible
they could get to Ford Field with the road that's
now been paid for them.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, I'm going to go a little bit with coaching
experience and tradition in the playoffs, and certainly spring Lake's coach.
We fouled a bu chetam over those great runs with Cadillac.
He knows, But the players of spring Lake have they
gone on that long run. And that's the thing with
Unity Christian, with that tradition and that culture that they built.
In a game like this, We've seen some crazy, crazy
upsets in Division four, I would say, like Tom alluded to,

(27:02):
but this one I think in favor of Unity Christian,
and I like the fact that they're playing at home.
All right, guys, speaking of that, let's go to vision one.
Rockford and Hudsonville the ok RED District Championship or should
I say Okay Red Playoff championship, because that's what it
always results to be. Rockford really playing some good football
and as healthy as maybe as they've been all year

(27:22):
long against a Hudsonville team that just continues to find
a way. I'll start with this one before I go
to you, Jay. I don't know these second goal rounds.
I think this is a toss up game, even though
it's at Hudsonville.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
I really do.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
I like the way Rockford's playing right now, and I
think they've shored some things up.

Speaker 5 (27:38):
Yeah, it's gonna be fascinating me. You just look at
the regular season matchup, really good game. Obviously, the loss
in Weber catch is the one that stands out. The
amazing one head to catch to put Hudsonville up fourteen
there in the fourth quarter ends up being a seven
point Hudsonville win. But you just Rockford was two to
one past to run. You know, they ran for negative
six yards. Hudsonville is really hard to run the ball again.

Speaker 7 (27:55):
Yea.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
So I think that if you're Rockford, you've got two
options here from an offensive standpoint, right, You're either going
to run the ball with Luca Hearn more than the
five carries he got the first time around, or you're
just gonna say, listen, we're I'm gonna try to run it.
We're gonna come out here, We're gonna throw it forty
times and see if we can win the football game
doing it that way. That's why Jason vanderl gets the
big bucks. He gets to make that decision. Then you
flipping it on their side. Hudsonville completely balanced the first

(28:16):
time around, right, one seventy seven on the ground, one
ninety nine through the air, Like that's what they want.
They want balance how does Randy Vandervein get Hudsonville uncomfortable?
I guess it's gonna be another really good one.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
What do you think, Buck, we saw the first go around,
but obviously, you know Braiden Daniels banged up a little
bit there, so I think he's maybe the healthies he's
been since the start of the season. I just think
it's a different Rams team.

Speaker 6 (28:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (28:38):
Well, I mean we saw them in Week six and
that my age always has been hard to be a
team the second time in the first time, and I
think Rockford now is a better version of itself than
it was.

Speaker 7 (28:49):
In Week six.

Speaker 8 (28:50):
But with Braiden Daniels now healthy, how does that change
the offense and what Jason van Neulan wants to do.
Like Jason said, they could throw it around forty times,
which is really what got and back in that game
against Hudsonville, or do they want to try to power
the ball forward with lucahern and try to go to
it more of a balanced offense. I think what we
saw in week six is how you beat Hudsonville. You

(29:13):
have to go through the year. They're very tough to
run against. And I'm not saying that they don't. They
don't have to run at all. But I think really
for Rockford to be successful, they still have to be
able to throw the ball because that is where Hudsonville
has been weak and they have been exposed both against Rockford.

Speaker 7 (29:27):
Andy's can't win.

Speaker 8 (29:28):
Hudsonville does not defend the pass necessarily well, but because
teams are getting bad down in distance because they try
to run, it makes it a little bit easier for them.
So I think Rockford's still going to have to throw
the football. And Brandon Daniels is now back to healthy,
they still have Lucahern, they still have that weapon inside
the red zone. And I think that Rockford coming into
this game, they know that they did not have a

(29:51):
very good start in that regular season game, and if
they don't have that type of start we sawt with
Coopersville last week when they played Kenawa Hills. Coopersville didn't
get out to a twenty one nothing home. They dominated
that game from wire to wire, and I think we
might see the same things here from Rockford. Hudsonville has
to be aware of that first quarter. They just have
to make sure that they weather the storm because Rockford's
going to be ready. If Hudsonville doesn't get out to

(30:12):
that twenty eight nothing lead in the first half against
Rockford in the first game, do they win that game?

Speaker 7 (30:16):
We don't know.

Speaker 8 (30:17):
Because of how Rockford played in the second half, that
could be a different story. So this is going to
be very intriguing matchup. Hudsonville has to has to and
get off to a good start because Rockford impressed the
issue and take the momentum away very early.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Tom Kendra, I'm curious because you saw that Rockford come
back and Hackley Stadium gets Muskigan in the second half
in week two.

Speaker 6 (30:37):
I sure did.

Speaker 9 (30:37):
And you know these are two teams that just refuse
to lose. You mentioned that comeback for Rockford down twenty
to three at halftime, but you know how about Hudsonville.
They're down six points with thirty one seconds to go
against East kent Wood find a way to win. And
the reason is, I mean, both of these teams are
filled with just smart, disciplined athletes and that's why this
is going to be a great matchup. You look at

(30:59):
the big three and the ok Red Hudsonville, Rockford and
East kent Wood. You know East kent would get moved
to a different district. I just think Hudsonville matches up
a lot better with Rockford. I really like the Eagles
in this game, and I think we're going to see
a rematch of that game Hudsonville and East kent Wood,
and that one could be another dandy. But yeah, got
to take care of business and try to get past Rockford,

(31:20):
which is never easy.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
I wish we had six crews, guys with all the
great games, or we could spread these out for both
of us to do multiple games for the district championships.
But that's the case coming up tomorrow night and on Saturday,
Kentwood playing at Howe on Saturday afternoon at one o'clock.
Great job, guys, all season long. That's the J and
H Family Store's four pack with now sixty plus locations
across Michigan to serve you J and H Family Stores

(31:43):
stopping on the way to your next game or on
your way home more to come stay with us in
our season finale of the High School Football Preview Show,
brought to you by Lake Michigan Credit Union, exclusively here
on ninety six to one.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
The game.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Takes a snap bag to harm in the pocket, looking
looking out plussed out to us left trying to buy
some time. Throw us to the back of the end zone.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Got a man out there, goes up to.

Speaker 7 (32:07):
The back of the episode.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Let's go back into the Montel Construction coaches corner for
a second time at our final show of the season,
District Final action coming up, and how about the move
we've talked about all season long from Division five to
Division six. They are the four time defending Okay Silver
champion Building Black Knights and their head coach is Monty Price.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Joining us right now.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Coach, We've been bugging you a lot lately, but that's.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
A good thing, right absolutely, talking to celebrities is always
good and uh yeah. First off, I'd just like to
say thanks to you fellas for having me on it.
It means the world that you guys are covering our program,
so thank you very much.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
Well, people come to this show for the hard hitting questions. Coach,
So I got a hard hitter a gate for you.
You always wear shorts, right, Like, where did that come from?
When did it start at? Why do you do it?
And have you have Warren pants coaching a football game?

Speaker 6 (33:02):
Well? Okay, so there's a lot there, So I'll kind
of try to try to get my way through that question.
So my high school coach's name was Nord Miller, Bless
his soul. These pasted a few years back, but meant
the world to me. And Coach Miller wore shorts. I
think every game that I ever saw him coach and

(33:23):
he wore a polo shirt. That was it. And he
would always just tell us kids at Montabella, you know,
cold is a state of mind, trying to make us
tough and man, he modeled that and he was that
example of toughness because I remember some games where it
was cold as can be and he's in a polo
shirt and a pair of shorts. So that was just
something that stuck with me. And I started it many

(33:45):
years ago at Reed City when I took over in
nineteen ninety nine, and that's kind of what I've been doing.
I'm not as tough as coach Miller, unfortunately, because I
do wear you know, something up top, you know, a
hoodie or a jacket, And there have been a couple
of the older I get, the colder I get. So
there have been a couple of games where I've wore

(34:06):
some pants, but try to wear shorts and it's just,
you know, I guess in honor of Coach Miller, my
high school coach, who was a man that I loved early.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Coach, I got to ask you, you knew what you
were taking over when you took this job. You were
excited about it. You got family in the area. And
I remember a couple of years ago when I went
out and I think I kind of met you for
the first time with Jay. We were doing a TV
piece and you said, Man, this, I just like everything
about this. I like the opportunity. Now you're athletic director.
There but four Okay Silver Conference championships. The team and

(34:38):
the town and the community I think has a little
bit of that swagger back. And it's great to see
because Belding was one of my favorite high school football
towns in West Michigan. Jay's obviously from there, so he
can give you all the details. But are you kind
of feeling that with this team and is the team
feeling it and kind of understanding the success that they've
had as of late?

Speaker 6 (34:55):
You know, I hope so, I think we're feeling it.
I know our community is really excited. I know, I
know our kids are really excited. Now, you know, Obviously,
Belding was, you know, a juggernaut in the nineties. Our
kids don't really remember that, obviously, they weren't even born,
but you know, that's kind of history to them. So
I feel that they kind of have a sense of

(35:15):
building their own legacy here. And you know, with all
of the craziness that Belding provides in terms of supporting
their athletics, especially their football program. I mean, obviously Building
is a football town. It just kind of goes hand
in hand. And I think our community is excited, and
I know that our kids are extremely excited, and they

(35:36):
also understand the responsibility of making our community proud and
being you know, putting a good product on the field.
So you know, that's been an important piece and we've
really stressed that. So it's all kind of coming together
and man, what an environment.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
Well, what's made this team so good? Right? You're nine
and one, You've won eight straight games, you got a
lot of seniors, you seem to be playing complimentary football.
What jumps to you through ten weeks is what's made
this team successful?

Speaker 6 (36:04):
You know, it's it's successes is real easy to me.
It's it's all about you know, hard work and that
is something that our kids take pride. And they work hard,
you know, and I'm not just referring to you know,
during the season. They work hard all year long. You know,
obviously everybody knows football is be kind of come a
year long process. So our kids, they they they embrace

(36:26):
the grind, they embrace repetitions. Every kid on our varsity
team was one hundred percent attendance in our off season workouts.
That's the first time, the first time that I've ever
coached a group where every kid has been there at
one hundred percent of the workouts. And then, you know,
I think, you know, after after work ethic and commitment,
it comes effort, you know. So our kids play hard,

(36:48):
and you know, we play a brand of football that
I think requires that we coach our kids hard. We demand,
you know, a tremendous effort and a tremendous amount of toughness,
and they answer the call every day. And I think
those two things, you know, go hand in hand and
define success.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Belding head coach Monty Price joined us here in the
Montel Construction Coaches Corner. It's brought to you by my
home team, Montel Construction. Still getting stuffed done. Before winter
roofeed windows side, he'd ask about their fall savings. Montelconstruction
dot com is your best resource, all right, coach, you
guys take care of ovid Elsey in week one twenty
eight to fourteen, and now you get done beaten Kent
City team right here from your own backyard with the Eagles,

(37:29):
kind of give us the assessment of them and also
your thoughts on week one and how your team performed
in the playoffs.

Speaker 6 (37:35):
Guys, I'll start with week one. You know, I thought
our defense played pretty darn good football, you know, to
hold that Overdels team who's got some dangerous, dangerous weapons
to fourteen points. But our offense, you know, we had
those three turnovers. Actually one was a special team's turnover.
But those turnovers really put our defense in bad situations.

(37:57):
But our defense, you know, they held in aul of
those occasions. So you know, very very pleased with our
defensive effort.

Speaker 7 (38:04):
When we when we were.

Speaker 6 (38:06):
Possessing the ball and securing the football, we were very sharp. Offensively,
We've certainly got to clean up those mistakes and and uh,
you know, give a give a little bit more attention
to to ball security. But overall, very very pleased with
our kids and our performance in week one. Uh can't city, man.
I'll tell you they're ten and o for a reason.

(38:26):
They're they're pretty darn good. And I don't care what
anybody says. Winnings not easy, and uh, they've won every
game and and they're good and we're certainly not taking
them lightly.

Speaker 7 (38:36):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (38:37):
I consider them to be one of the best teams
in Division six and they've earned that right.

Speaker 7 (38:41):
You know.

Speaker 6 (38:41):
Uh, it's tough to go to go ten and oh
and and uh you know, unfortunately for them, you know,
the playoff system has got them on the road twice,
but I think that might even be feeling their motivation
and their fire. So, uh, they're they're gonna come here
to run this on Friday night, and they're one heck
of a dangerous team and we're going to have to
be at our best.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
Well when you look at them, obviously you guys run
very similar offenses, but they have a six to three
and thirty pound quarterback. Yeah, it's a going to Grand
Valley State. So I mean that kind of jumps out
to you. What kind of challenge does he present and
what do you see as the biggest factors when you
talk about these teams being similar, Well, you.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
Know, Gosh, he's a tremendous player, but he's got he's
got some supporting cast too. I mean, I'm really impressed
with their with their running backs, their offensive line gets
off the ball. They're not the biggest, but you know
you don't have to be. They got big hearts, and
they're physical, and they get off the ball and they
move people. Obviously, they've moved ten teams quite easily leading

(39:38):
up to this matchup. So you know we're gonna have
to We're gonna have to be really physical, and their
quarterback prevents it presents, you know, a lot of challenges.
He's he's not only ginormous, he's athletic in ginormous, and
you know we're gonna have to certainly be able to
tackle him or he'll have his way with us, for sure.

(39:59):
So we're just trying to get our kids ready for that.
And you know, preparation has been good so far, but
we got a few more days ahead of us, and
I'm counting on our kids to come out and work
hard every day and be ready for that challenge.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Mannie, without giving too much away, I got to ask you,
I love asking coaches questions about the season and then
the postseason and certainly your days at Reed City and
then here at Belding. When you get to the playoffs
and you get non familiar opponents. In other words, you know,
outside of your conference, they don't know what you do.
You might change something like we had East Grand Rapids
last week. Talk about Josh Shattocky changed his offense. You

(40:34):
wanted to get more offensive firepower from years previous. But
for you, is it fun to kind of throw in
some different wrinkles at practice and preparation for what you
might want to use that isn't on film anywhere for
that team to see.

Speaker 6 (40:48):
Oh yeah, you know that's always fun. You know, we
feel like we've got some playmakers and we're always trying
to figure out different ways to potentially get them the
ball and let them, you know, work their magic. So
you know, we're we've got a few wrinkles and we've
been working on some things all year long that we
haven't shown. I mean, you know that's no secret. Every
everybody knows that coaches do that. So but you know,

(41:10):
we also have to look at your opponent and you know,
try to look at their scheme, and how they're trying
to defend you or how they're trying to defend common
opponents like you, and then you know kind of tweak
and change, and I guess the big word would be
adapt your schemes to try to give your kids an advantage.
And you know we're.

Speaker 7 (41:29):
Doing that every week.

Speaker 6 (41:30):
It's it's nothing new for us.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
So well, one thing I love about about the tee offense,
you know, your offense and great coaches like yourself. You know,
you think of John Shiliteau and some of the guys
that they do really quick tiv. You know, it's the
thing you got your base four or five plays and
you guys have ran those so well this year. But
you guys always come up with some fun stuff like
I think about John Shiltze would run some midline you
know at Zealand west And and you've run Wildcat when

(41:54):
he had Aunt Savinski. And this year I've seen you
run like almost a jet sweep end around type thing
with Jonahummell. And then last week, so what else? You
ran a two wide receiver set, which it's like, what's
that at Belding right? So like where we're like, are
these things that you've just always had that you just
bring them out when you have to. Are you constantly
coming up with them? Like how do you adapt your
offense like that?

Speaker 6 (42:14):
Well, you know, when you when you got a kid
like Joonahummel, who I think is you know, just a
dynamic electric, you know athlete, you know, and he plays
wide out in our system, you know with the tea,
with the split, we've got to be a little more creative.
I mean, we've got to try to get him the ball.
And obviously we're not throwing the ball twenty times a game,
so we got to be a little bit creative and

(42:35):
adapt things a little bit. And yeah, so you know,
you come up with two receiver sets, you come up
with end around reverses, those types of things, and thankfully
they've been working or I probably get fired that. You know,
the people here at Belding, that's that's unfamiliar territory. You know,
whiteouts and two whiteouts, so you know, you hear the
rumblings in the crowd. This is one of the strangest communities.

(42:58):
They want you to run the ball.

Speaker 7 (42:59):
They don't want to throw.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
Typically everybody's out and throw the ball, but Belding like
run the traps and you know that's just it's kind
of meat and funny.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Well, speaking to Jonahummel, he is a really good player
for you on offense, defense, special teams. His twin brother, Colton,
also a very good player for you on all facets
of the game. I'm just wondering how you tell them apart.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
That's funny you say that. I was talking to someone
when we I think it was when we played Holland.
I think somebody might have or no, it was Skegan
Oakridge when their radio people called me and they said,
do you have any funny interesting stories to share? And
I said, well, yeah, kind of. You're gonna you're gonna
see two kids who are twins on the team, but
they look totally different, like one six four and ones

(43:45):
five to ten. Yeah, they're easy to tell a part.
I mean, that's that's a no brainer. Colton is ginormous
and and Jonah is thin and athletic. But boy, they're
two great kids, and uh, you know they're they're excellent
at what they do and it's just different, and which
is kind of a nice thing I guess for them,
because you know, they don't have really any comparisons toward
each other. Because they do different things.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
So well, coach, I'll end with this. You know, I
love the big hogs. I love your offensive lineman, and
that's with the utmost respect you can deliver that message
from me. But I also like the way you guys
can be set up if weather starts to become a
factor as we go through. Remember Noah Rittenberg ran well
in that Holland game for you, and I love Teaing
Van Dijkin two. You guys just kind of plowed in

(44:25):
that game.

Speaker 6 (44:26):
Yeah, you know, and you know that. Guess that's one
of the things that's so special about this team is
we've got some big running backs that you know that
can grind it out and get you those four tough yards.
They're not flashy button boy. They are tough and they
will punch it up in there and they will get
They're a load to bring down. And then you know,
we've got Tyler Simon and Nick Wright and Ethan King,

(44:46):
who are those smaller scatback type kids who can get
the edge. And if they get the edge, they're gone.
Or if Ethan hits the trap, I mean he is gone.
And there aren't many people that are going to catch
those kids. And when you throw Jonahummel into the mix,
you know where you can throw to him or running arounds,
reverse whatever, and you know, we've just got a lot
of options and that makes us pretty difficult to defend,

(45:07):
I hope. And you know, like you said, you throw
that good offensive line up there. We've got some big
hogs up there. We love them too, man. There's nothing
better than a group of offensive linemen that just love
what they do and don't care who gets the credit.
And those are our kids, man. And put it all together,
and we've been pretty successful offensively and we just hope
that that can continue. And we certainly understand that Kent

(45:30):
City is going to play really good defense. So we're
gonna we're gonna have to probably use everything we've got,
all the tools, all all the adjustments, all of the weapons,
and try to see if we can get.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
This w It's for a district title of Division six.
You can't beat at one lost Belding, unbeaten Kent City
running this field is going to be electric.

Speaker 5 (45:47):
Coach, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
We've been pleasure to have you in our different media
coverages and platforms the last few weeks, and it's been
a great story. Congratulations again on the ok silver for
Pete if you will, they'll create a shirt for that,
you know that, and Belding if you haven't already, and uh,
best of luck coming up on tomorrow night.

Speaker 6 (46:05):
Hey, I really appreciate it, guys. That shirt's on its way.
We're we're getting those babies ordered and they're they're they're
coming here in a couple of weeks, so we're pretty
excited about that. And again, thank you so much for
having me on and thinking highly of Belding football. I
appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
For our LMCU Game of the Week schedules, show in
game broadcasts, and to visit our great sponsors, visit our
Trinity Health High School Football page at ninety six to
one the Game dot com one O seven m U
s Themoose dot com or Wood Radio dot com.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Just to reminder that even though this is our final
segment of the high school football Preview for the twenty
twenty five season, our coverage on the Drive to Ford Field,
brought to you by vandal On Home Improvement, continues on
both stations as long as we have teams. So one
oh seven m us the Moose for our lake Shore
Crew with Jas Nutt and Tom Kendra and Buck Gino
and I will hold on the four on ninety six
to one the game. All right, let's go through our

(47:04):
top ten rankings four week eleven. Now we will keep
these going check out West Michigan oksports dot com all
the way through the finals and we'll probably have a
season ending top ten because we like to do that,
and we'll continue on with the teams. But for ours,
I'll go first this week. Jay, you went first last
week for district finals. Hudsonville has been number one, as
you know since the start. For me, they are ten

(47:25):
and oh still number one. Ported Central ten and oh
is number two. Unity Christian three at nine to one,
Rockford eight and two is four. East Kentwood rounds up
my top five at eight and two, and just a
reminder that East Kentwood Howel game at Howel is a
Saturday afternoon game one o'clock kick for the district championship.
Muskegan number six for me at seven and three.

Speaker 5 (47:43):
Ground up.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's Catholic Central still perfect at ten andoh is seven.
East Grand Rapids up to eight at eight and two.
Great win for them and Josh Haatdeck's first as head
coach in the playoffs at East Grand Rapids over Cedar Springs.
West Catholic moves into my top ten at number nine
and nine to one, and then Byron's Center is at
number ten at seven and three.

Speaker 5 (48:02):
I know you've been calling for that.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Kennawa, Hills and Lunnington with their losses, drop out of
my top ten.

Speaker 5 (48:07):
Yes, we had the exact same top ten, we just
have them in a very different order. Outside of one.
I also have Hudsonville one rock for two, so for
me one versus two this week in the district problem.
That's why I love the district final because, yeah, the
driving forcefield is gonna get awesome, but it's gonna start
being area teams against out of area teams. This is
the best of the best in this area facing each
other often, and that's where we have one versus two
for me. I've East Kent win three. That matchup with

(48:29):
Howell on Sara is gonna be great. Howell runs the
wing tea, of course he's Kent's used to that a
little bit placing Grandville so and they're really good defensively
against that, so that'll be a fascinating matchup. I have
Muskegan four at seven and three. The Big regis taking
on Traverse City Central at Hackley this week, and then
five I have Byron Center, six, I have Port of Central,
so I have five versus six. It's just maybe this
is Port of Central's year and you'll find out it's

(48:51):
just history chows me the Byron Center. The Okay Conference
wins these games against Portage Central. So I have Byron
Center five, Port of Central six obviously Port Central undfeed
and I have Grandaskylix ten and Oh seven United Christian A,
Eastern Rapids nine, West Catholic ten. Obviously that's seven versus
ten with the Holy War. Can we just talk about
scrapparts really quick? You and I both have you Scerning
Rapids ranked, and neither of us have Lowll ranked. They
both ate and two. Lowell beat them head to head

(49:13):
by thirty three. And why are we ranking the scrun Rappers.
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
It's a good question, but you know what, I was
really impressed and it's different. I mean you would say
this when you see a team different even on video
than when you see them in person. I was really
impressed with East Grand Rapids and their front seven on
that defense, as it's been told all season long, and
then I like what they're doing on offense. That said,
Guska Polka and Cedar Spring's Wow, really good team out

(49:38):
of the River City's alliance. I was impressed with them,
and I guess that is why I like what I
saw these Grand Rapids. I mean, they've done it against
Catholic Central, against nor Few, against cedarm those are good
teams with that defense.

Speaker 5 (49:50):
I don't know if we'll see a lowly scun Rapids
match up in the state semifinal. It's possible. I don't
know if you know those teams will win this week.
Scrabs gotta play Red Hot Coopersville and Lowe's gotta play
Thronu pakellg Those will both be great matchups, be fun
though if we get it. It's just because I just
feel like Easter gron Rappits is not the team they
showed in Week one, and they've showed it the last
nine weeks. That's why I'm ranking East.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
Gramps all right, our Uptown Cheapskate Players of the Week
for the final time this season. Since I went first
with our top ten se you go first.

Speaker 5 (50:14):
Yet, Yeah, I'm gonna go. Lamar Bradford, the senior quarterback
at Meschigan, just another monster effort in the win over
Mona Shores. He had two hundred and eleven rushing yards
and five rushing touchdowns. Ye so threw a touchdown pass,
so he counts for six three for four, seventy two
yards through the air. I mean, the dude's amazing, and
they block so well with that offensive line, and they've
got weapons with Petty and Drummer. I just really like
Lamar Bradford leaving that big red offense.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
I'm going with senior running back Leland Nole from Coopersville.
That was the shocker of Week one for me is
how Coopersville handled, and I mean handled Ken of Wiels,
the River City's Alliance champion, forty two to seven. It
was forty two to nothing at one point. Nineteen carries
one hundred and forty four yards four touchdowns for Nol.
They've got weapons, and I tell you what, I wouldn't
want to play Coopersville right now. Coopers Well East Grand

(50:57):
Rapids is going to be fun.

Speaker 5 (50:58):
It's going to be you got you know that offense
throwing it, running it. They obviously they ran it well
last week, but they can throw it as well against
that East Gren Rapids front seven. Something tells me this
will be decided when Easter Girn Rapids has the football
against Coopersville defense. Two units probably the underrated.

Speaker 1 (51:11):
Now, don't forget our MCU high school football games of
the week, both on Friday night this week six thirty
broadcast starts on both stations. We already mentioned ours, but
Byron Center reported Central. I want to give you some
time because Shelby has been a great story and you
and Tom Kender are making the trek up near the
Claire area north of Mount Pleasant. As Shelby takes on
Harrison in Division seven.

Speaker 5 (51:31):
Well, somebody's gonna be really happy because Harrison has never
won a district championship, right, and Shelby hasn't even been
to the playoffs since twenty thirteen. They had those back
to back States semifinal runs twelve and thirteen. They didn't
even been to the playoffs since twenty thirteen, so they're
on a twelve year drought. They could win it. Somebody's
gonna win distort championship. I'll tell you. Watching the Shelby
team on film, I mean they've got some athletes. They've
got Isaac Garcia and Jalen Henderson who both play quarterback

(51:52):
and wide receiver. I really like Brody Festenden, Trevor Weiss
at receive. I mean, Shelby has got some dudes. I
mean for divisions, I've been like, I think it's gonna
be fabulous.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
And for those who don't know, I happen to know
because you shared with me. You grew up in Belding,
but you have a history at Holton Lake back in
the day. You're not too far from Hot Lake Partners
a little bit south.

Speaker 5 (52:10):
I went to third grade at Holton Lake just one
semester and moved back at Harrison Bratt. I went to
min Michigan Community College. That's where I was in September eleventh.
I was in a geology exam in MI Michigan Community
College in Harrison on September eleventh. So I'm going back
to the old stopping ground.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
So you know exactly what you're getting into. And it's
going to be Friday night, seven o'clock six thirty with
a pregame cover. He and Tom Kendra again, best of
luck to show. But I think it's great. We love
doing these teams. That maybe we didn't get a chance
to necessarily or give a lot of love during the
regular season come layoff time. One final reminder, don't forget
you can follow our top tens and everything else. West
Michigan High School Football page powered by Trinity Health will

(52:44):
also every Monday try to let you know what our
games of the week are going to be for the playoffs.
But West Michigan okasports dot Com powered by win Shuelers
Chief spreads four different cheese spreads to enjoy for your tailgating.
Whether it's Friday, Saturday a Lions game on Sunday, check
out win Shueler shee spreads. Well, Jay, thank you so much.
It's been a lot of fun this season, thanks to
all the coach you've had a chance to talk to

(53:05):
you and our special guest obviously every week Buck Gino
and Tom Kendra. That'll do it for this edition of
the high School Football Preview Show. Enjoy the games Tomorrow
night on ninety six to one The game in one
oh seven m us the Moose.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the LMCU High
School Football Preview Show and exclusive presentation of ninety six
won the game and iHeartMedia powered by Lake Michigan Credit Union.
Find out more at LMCU dot org and also brought
to you by Meyer Kids Food Basket, JY and H
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(53:41):
Straight Line Fence, Rapid Radios, Uptown, Chiefskate in Granville and Kenwood,
MKD Funeral Homes, Winshoolers, Delicious Cheese Spreads, Pulse, Jepson Physical Therapy,
Discount Door and Montel Construction, and just a reminder that
you can follow all of the high school sports action
fall with conference schedules, scores, and standings for your favorite

(54:03):
teams by logging onto West Michigan oksports dot com