MUSKEGON – You expect a lot of points to be scored when Muskegon and Mona Shores go head-to-head with all of their offensive weapons.
That certainly happened on Friday night, with the two area powers trading touchdowns for most of the contest as they battled for bragging rights and supremacy in the O-K Green conference.
The difference came in the second half, when the Big Red defense started buckling down and forcing Mona Shores to punt.
Meanwhile the Muskegon offense kept scoring and pulled away for an impressive 55-35 victory over the Sailors at Hackley Stadium. The win gave the Big Reds a share of the O-K Green conference title with Mona Shores and Zeeland West and momentum heading into the playoffs.
[1]“It means a lot that we are growing in the right direction,” said Muskegon Coach Shane Fairfield, whose young team has had growing pains at times throughout the season. “We beat a really good football team that has shut a lot of people down and given up very few points. It was a good win for us.”
The Big Reds opened the scoring late in the first quarter when they drove the ball 89 yards on 15 plays, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by M’Khi Guy.
The Sailors responded six snaps later when Dahmir Farnum scored on a 17-yard run, and the PAT gave Mona Shores a 7-6 advantage with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Mona Shores got the ball back with 10:28 left in the second quarter on an interception by Ke’Waun Farnum around midfield.
The Sailors extended their lead, scoring on an 11-play, 52-yard drive drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown run by Brandon Bankard with 4:07 left in the second quarter.
[2]Muskegon slowly moved the ball on its last possession of the second quarter and scored on the 14th play with eight seconds left in the half.
Jakob Price found the end zone from two yards out, then converted a two-point run to tie the game 14-14 at halftime.
The Sailors opened the second half with a 75-yard run by Dahmir Farnum to quickly get into scoring range.
Mona Shores scored on the next play on a five-yard run by Johnathan Pittman and took a 21-14 lead with 11:44 left in the third quarter.
The Big Reds responded six plays later with a 17-yard touchdown run by Price to tie the game 21-21 with 9:12 remaining in the third.
[3]The Sailors counterpunched six plays later with a one-yard touchdown plunge by Pittman to take a 28-21 lead. The score was set up by a 46-yard pass from Pittman to Eric Cotner.
The Big Reds tied the game back up on the next play from scrimmage with a 48-yard touchdown run by Destin Piggee.
That’s when Muskegon started buckling down on defense.
The Big Reds forced the Sailors to punt on their next possession, then scored on the second play of their drive on a 39-yard run by Guy with 2:43 left in the third quarter to take a 35-28 lead.
The Big Reds stopped Mona Shores again on its following possession, then scored on the first play of the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Guy to take a 41-28 lead.
The Sailors responded four plays later with a 25-yard touchdown run by Dahmir Farnum with 10:12 left in the fourth to cut the deficit to 41-35.
[4]Muskegon melted some of the clock away by completing an 80-yard, 11-play drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Guy with 4:20 remaining in the game.
Price added the two-point conversion to increase the Big Red lead to 49-35.
After stopping the Sailors once again, Muskegon closed out the scoring with 2:32 left with a 35-yard run by Piggee.
“There was no negativity on the sideline this week,” Guy said. “This win gets us ready for the playoffs. They weren’t expecting us to score much but, in my opinion, we can score on every drive.”
Guy paced the Big Red offense with 167 rushing yards on 19 carries and four touchdowns, while also completing 4 of 6 passes for 55 yards.
[5]Piggee had 169 rushing yards on nine carries with two touchdowns while Price added 128 yards on the ground with two scores.
The Big Reds were paced defensively by Adrian Rankin Jr. with 7.5 tackles while Amariyan Glover added six.
“I am proud of our kids for battling but we have to play better,” said Mona Shores coach Matt Koziak. “We knew if we didn’t get guys to the ground they were going to get yards quickly. Now we need to focus on the playoffs and decide how bad we want this.”
Dahmir Farnum paced the Sailors with 147 rushing yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns. Pittman went 6-for-11 passing for 94 yards while Cotner caught three passes for 77 yards.
Mona Shores was led defensively by Trent Rosenthal with eight tackles while Hayden Terpstra had seven.
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