MUSKEGON – Muskegon quarterback M’Khi Guy ran like a man who was tired of all the doubts surrounding his football team.

His Big Reds started the season in sluggish fashion, squeaking out a tight win over East Kentwood in Week 1, then suffering an ugly loss on the road to powerhouse Warren De La Salle last week.

On top of all that, the re-energized Reeths-Puffer Rockets were giving the Big Reds fits on Friday night.

Guy threw an interception early in the second quarter, the Rockets scored and led 14-7, leaving the packed stadium wondering if an upset was brewing.

Then Guy really turned on the jets, rushing for big gains, often on key plays when the Big Reds needed to cover some yards.

His efforts allowed Muskegon to outlast Reeths-Puffer and take home a 28-20 victory at Hackley Stadium in a key O-K Green conference matchup.

“I thought about it, and we can’t be the team that goes 1-2, we want to be the team that carries on the legacy,” said Guy, who totaled 205 yards rushing on 24 carries. “We can’t be the team that loses early the playoffs. We’ve got to be the team that goes back to Ford Field and wins.

“A win is a win, but we can’t focus on this one. We’ve got to be ready for the next one. I think we should be able to do way more than we did tonight.”

Muskegon head coach Shane Fairfield noted that the Big Reds’ offensive system always produces great quarterbacks, and Guy executed the offense well against Reeths-Puffer.

He also noted that his team has several other big weapons, so if teams key on Guy, they will get burned other ways.

“If defenses stay heavy on the outside, Guy and Jake Price are going to hurt them, and if they go heavy on the inside, Destin Piggee and our other slots will hurt them,” Fairfield said.

“We’re getting better. We’re not where we want to be, but I’ll take this one because they challenged us and we didn’t quit or give up.”

The first series of the game left everyone thinking that maybe nothing had really changed, and Muskegon was still far superior.

The Big Reds took the opening kickoff and marched 87 yards on 10 plays, with Guy running in a two-yard touchdown with 5:56 left in the first quarter. The extra point gave Muskegon a 7-0 lead.

But the Rockets immediately served notice that they came to play.

Bryce Ross returning the ensuing kickoff 91 yard for what appeared to be a touchdown, but a block in the back call left R-P with the ball at the Muskegon 47.

On the first play from scrimmage, R-P tailback Brody Johnson broke through the line and scored a 47-yard TD, and the extra point made the score 7-7.

Muskegon’s next possession ended at the R-P 24 when Guy’s passed was picked off by R-P linebacker Caiden Bolduc on the first play of the second quarter.

The Rockets then drove 69 yards in 10 plays, with Johnson breaking loose for a 30-yard touchdown run, and R-P led 14-7 with 7:45 left in the half.

Muskegon answered that challenge before halftime, going on a 10-play, 74-yard drive to even the score.

Guy put the ball in the end zone on an eight-yard run with 1:27 left, and the PAT left the score tied 14-14.

Reeths-Puffer threatened to take the lead before halftime after quarterback Brady Ross threw a pass to Tayte Vanderleest around the R-P 40, and he broke loose all the way to the Muskegon 20 for a 63-yard gain. But the drive stalled on downs at the Big Red 15 with seven seconds left and the score remained knotted at halftime.

Muskegon forced the Rockets to punt on the opening drive of the third quarter, then took the lead back.

Guy had a huge run on third and 11 at the Muskegon 38 when he ducked out of the pocket and scrambled to the Rocket 32 for a 30-yard gain.

Seven plays later running back Jakob Price, seeing his first action of the season after returning from an injury, scored from seven yards out, and the PAT gave Muskegon a 21-14 lead.

Reeths-Puffer fought back again early in the fourth quarter, going 55 yards on seven plays for a touchdown.

Johnson broke a 22-yard run to put the Rockets at the Muskegon nine, then two plays later Brady Ross threw a four-yard TD pass to Johnson. The extra point kick missed the mark, leaving the Big Reds clinging to a 21-20 lead with 10:20 left in the game.

The Big Reds scored their final points on their next possession with a drive covering 65 yards.

Guy scrambled for runs of 18 and 14 yards, Price added a 17-yard burst, then Wanyai Johnson ran the ball in from 13 yards out. The PAT kick was good and the Big Reds led 28-20 with 7:25 left in the game.

Both teams turned the ball over on downs over the next few minutes. Reeths-Puffer had a final possession, starting at its own 31 with 2:45 left, but the Rockets could not get the equalizer.

Guy completed 8 of 11 passes for 56 yards. Price finished with 56 yards rushing on 12 carries and a touchdown for the Big Reds.

Princeton Blackmon led the Muskegon defense with seven tackles, Darekeo Speech had six while Stanley Cunningham and CJ Ivy added four apiece.

Reeths-Puffer Coach Cody Kater was downcast after the game, because a loss is never any sort of victory in his book.

But there was no doubt that in anyone’s mind that the close game against the Big Reds signaled the Rockets’ arrival as a team to be reckoned with.

When he took the R-P job late last year, Kater said the goal was to close the gap with area powers like Muskegon and Mona Shores, and it appears it’s been closed.

“It’s a telling tale of where our program is,” Kater said. “We’ve grown and gotten better. We’ve closed the gap in the county. It was inexperience in big games and environments like this that ended up costing us.

“We were here to play. It’s nice to make statements, but at the same time we want to win these games. We have to make sure we grow and move forward from this.”

Brody Ross completed 13 of 19 passes for the Rockets for 123 yards and one touchdown.

Johnson rushed for 110 yards on 12 carries, scored twice on the ground and had one TD catch.

Vanderleest finished with three catches for 66 yards.

Bolduc led the R-P defense with four solo tackles and 19 assists to go along with his interception. Vanderleest had three solo tackles and 11 assists,  Tyviea Williams had two solo stops and 11 assists and Sage Stiller had 11 assists.