FRUITPORT – It’s still early in the season, but Friday’s opening conference game against Allendale can only be viewed as a crucial test for the Fruitport football team.

That’s because the Trojans suffered a jarring loss to Grand Rapids Christian last Thursday, giving up a 27-point lead and falling 41-34.

Fruitport led 34-7 late in the second quarter, then allowed the Eagles to score 34 straight points, including the winning touchdown with only 28 seconds left on the clock.

That means it’s gut-check time for the Trojans, because their response to that loss could go a long way toward determining the kind of season they will have.

“We’re going to check our resilience in a different way,” said Fruitport head coach Nate Smith, whose team is now 1-1. “In Week 1 (against Kenowa Hills) we were physically challenged, and in Week 2 we fell apart in the second half. This will be a check on our character and mental resilience.”

That being said, Smith believes in his team, and thinks the players will get the job done on Friday.

“I put my money on our guys,” the coach said. “I have no doubt they are going to respond positively. This is an opportunity to say that it won’t happen again.”

A lot of things went wrong for the Trojans in the second half last week, but overall Smith thinks it was a matter of relaxing too soon.

“My takeaway from it is that you can’t let your foot off the gas,” he said. “You start calling the game differently because you want to be respectful, but it was actually a level of disrespect (toward GR Christian) to think that they couldn’t come back.

“Grand Rapids Christian has great coaches and players. You can’t take a half off against great football teams.”

The Trojans were planning on having their home opener on Friday against Allendale, and unveil their new turf field, but the field won’t be ready on time, so the game will be played at Hope College.

The site of the contest is a secondary concern for Fruitport. The Trojans just want to win again, so they can put last week’s bitter disappointment behind them.

They also want to get off to a good start in the extremely tough O-K Blue conference. The Trojans think they are good enough to win the league championship this year, but to do that will require solid play every week, because no game will be a cakewalk.

Fruitport and Allendale have only played twice in history, in the two years since Fruitport joined the O-K Blue.

In 2020 the Trojans lost 45-22 and last year they won 22-14.

Last year’s contest was tied 14-14 after three quarters, then Fruitport’s Paschal Jolman sealed the victory with a 90-yard touchdown run.

Allendale, like Fruitport, comes into the game with a 1-1 record after beating Greenville in its season opener and losing to Hopkins last week.

Falcons quarterback Tyler Sparks seems to be a big part of the offense after leading the team in passing and rushing in last week’s loss and posting an 80-yard touchdown run in Week 1. Landon Adams, who ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener, is another offensive threat.

Defensively, Aaron Holstege will have to be a concern for Fruitport after recording an impressive 17 tackles last week and 11 the week before.

“They are a very sound football team, and they do a lot of things that will put us in conflict,” Smith said. “We really have to clean some things up for this game. The last few years they have been very good games.

“We’ve had this game circled on our calendar, not just because it was supposed to be our first home game, but because it’s become a bit of a rivalry for us. It will be another physical, quality football game, and these are two pretty similar towns where the schools are the center of the community and football is the heart.”