GRAND RAPIDS – If the Fruitport football season turns out anything like Thursday night’s game, the Trojans will have a resilient and explosive year.

Fruitport displayed both of those qualities in a 32-20 season-opening road victory over Kenowa Hills.

“They’re resilient,” said Fruitport head coach Nate Smith about his team’s effort in the game. “We know we got some talent and can do some real good things. It was all about resiliency for us, we kept going and got after it. I’m incredibly proud of the resiliency we had tonight.”

Fruitport had to battle for the victory in a game that was much closer than last year’s 42-2 blowout win.

After Fruitport took a 12-6 halftime lead, Kenowa Hills took the opening possession of the second half 65 yards over nine plays and scored on a two-yard run by Andrew Bradley, taking a 13-12 lead with 6:39 left in the third quarter.

Fruitport responded just two plays later when Paschal Jolman broke loose for a 54-yard touchdown run to reclaim the lead. The score was 20-13 following a successful two-point conversion run by Collin Jolman.

With just under four minutes remaining in the game, the Trojan defense stool tall when Kenowa Hills attempted to convert on fourth and four at the Fruitport 18-yard line.

Following the turnover on downs, quarterback Collin Jolman showed off his speed with a 71-yard touchdown run to make the score 26-13.

Kenowa Hills answered back with a three-yard TD run by Bradley with 2:03 remaining to make the score 26-20.

But on the ensuing Trojan possession, Paschal Jolman sealed the game with his second 54-yard touchdown run of the night, which was also his fourth touchdown of the game, giving Fruitport its final margin of victory.

“I haven’t had a game like that in high school,” Paschal Jolman said about his night. “I think once or twice is the most I’ve scored. But the offensive line did that for us tonight. Some (of the holes the line broke open) were big. You have to make the most of them.”

Paschal Jolman opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run on the first possession of the game to give Fruitport a 6-0 lead.

The score was tied 6-6 after one quarter, following a 35-yard pick-six by Nolan Thayer, but an 11-yard touchdown run by Paschal Jolman in the second quarter gave the Trojans a 12-6 halftime edge.

Paschal Jolman led the Trojans with 190 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries while Collin Jolman completed 9 of 16 passes for 138 yards.

Collin Jolman also had 108 yards and one touchdown on two carries while Cody Nash totaled 87 yards on three catches.

Nash led the defense with eight tackles while Andrew J. Fielstra had seven.

“It’s crazy,” Coach Smith said about the explosiveness of the Fruitport offense. “Our offensive line is so big and so powerful. They can open up holes and we have backs who can have big explosive plays.”

Fruitport will travel to Grand Rapids Christian next Thursday, looking to start the season 2-0 for the first time since 2012.

“It’s crazy,” Paschal Jolman said about the opening victory. “It gives us a lot of momentum. We’ll play a good program next week and we got some things we can polish up.”