KENT CITY – Some people wondered if the Kent City football team might be a little rusty, after missing two games in a row due to COVID issues.

But that certainly wasn’t the case for junior running back Mason Westbrook, who said he was one of the Kent City players who tested positive three weeks ago.

Westbrook had been sitting and stewing for two Fridays in a row, then left all of his pent-up energy on the field at Holton, when he and his teammates finally got the chance to play again.

The bruising 5-9, 215-pound runner created big problems for the Red Devil defense, grinding out one big gain after another, often dragging two or three defenders behind him as he kept churning forward.

He finished with 230 yards on 27 carries with two touchdowns, leading the Eagles to a 50-38 come-from-behind win over Holton on Friday.

It certainly wasn’t his first big game of the season. He came in with 458 total yards on 43 carries with five touchdowns. But it was his most motivated performance, because Fridays without football in the fall are not happy days for Westbrook.

“It was really tough,” Westbrook said. “Football is my life. I really love it, and when Coach Crane said we couldn’t play, I was pretty upset and sad. I was all excited and ready to go on Friday. I had been working pretty hard all week getting ready for it.”

Kent City’s COVID issues began back on Sept. 17, the day of the Eagles’ big rivalry game with Morley-Stanwood, which often determines the CSAA Silver Division champion.

During the day a number of Kent City players tested positive for COVID, so Coach Bill Crane, following state health department guidelines, was forced to forfeit just a few hours before kickoff.

The problem continued into the next week, when both Kent City and Hesperia had COVID issues, and their game was cancelled without a forfeit for either side.

The forfeit to Morley-Stanwood was particularly painful, because the Eagles are defending Silver Division champions, and Crane knew the automatic loss might throw the title to the Mohawks.

“They are our natural rival, and we wish we would have had the opportunity to play them, but you can’t control the past,” Crane said. “We can only focus on meeting our goals ahead of us.”

Needless to say, the players were more than eager to get back on the field against Holton, a much-improved team, in a battle for second place in the Silver Division, behind Morley-Stanwood.

Westbrook made sure he was ready.

He said he was one of the players who had tested positive, although he had no noticeable symptoms, other than a stuffed-up nose. Regardless of that, Westbrook knew he shouldn’t be in close contact with others for a while, so he spent his free time – including the two quiet Friday nights – working on his skills.

‘”I just went outside and ran and went over the playbook and just practiced,” Westbrook said. “I did what I was supposed to do. I didn’t get out of shape.

“Since I was one of the guys who tested positive that Friday, I knew I couldn’t do anything but stay home and work on my game.”

Kent City had to play come-from-behind in Friday’s game, because Holton quarterback Austin Fowler was hitting his receivers and moving his team down the field from the get-go.

Kent City countered Holton’s air attack by going to Westbrook on the ground, over and over again, and the strategy worked to perfection. Lots of would-be tacklers got their hands on him, but Westbrook just kept churning, running through them or dragging them along.

His bruising rushes wore down the Holton defense, opening up the field for his offensive teammates. After Westbrook’s two 17-yard touchdown runs, quarterback Kyler Larsen added a 31-yard scoring run and two long TD passes, and the Eagles prevailed on the scoreboard.

“We had talked about taking advantage of every opportunity, and Mason definitely did,” Crane said. “He left everything on the field, which is what we asked him to do.

“He’s a load to bring down, that’s for sure. Looking at the stats, I would be very curious to know his yards after first contact (with a defender). It was definitely not the first or even the second guys tackling him.”

Playing nose-to-nose, plow-them-over football has never been a problem for Westbrook, who started at defensive nose tackle as a freshman, plays middle linebacker this year, and admits he would rather run over defenders than go around them, because “it shows the dominance I have on the field.”

But the coaches challenged Westbrook in the offseason to become more of a complete running back, and he’s making progress, according to Crane.

“In the past he was always looking for contact, always looking for someone to go and hit,” Crane said. “The last few games he’s done a much better job of following the guards and making good reads and cuts.”

“I worked on that all summer, just getting my footwork better so I could move a lot faster and make people miss,” Westbrook said. “It’s not all just about knocking people over.”

Kent City, now 3-2, will finish the regular season with games against White Cloud, Hartford and Grant. While the forfeit loss and the “no game” with Hesperia will hurt the Eagles in the playoff point standings, Crane believes they can still qualify for the postseason.

“If we can take care of business the next three weeks we have a very good shot,” the coach said.