FRUITPORT – The Fruitport football coaches have been delivering the same message to the players all season:
Take care of the business at hand, and the rest will take care of itself.
The Trojans found out how true that was last Friday night in the middle of their 61-36 victory over Hamilton.
Head coach Nate Smith was on the sidelines when he thought he heard the Hamilton PA announcer say something about Spring Lake upsetting Hudsonville Unity Christian.
“There was a lull in the game and we were gathering different groups together to get subs in,” Smith said. “Then they said that, and I looked at someone and asked, ‘Did I hear that right?’
[1]“After the game we got confirmation.”
Until Friday, the Trojans’ fate in the O-K Blue conference standings was not completely in their hands. They had to keep winning and hope that one-loss Grand Rapids West Catholic would knock off first-place Unity Christian in Week 9, creating a three-way tie for the league title.
But Spring Lake’s victory over Unity Christian left all three conference leaders with one loss.
Now the Trojans will split the championship with the winner of the West Catholic-Unity Christian game – as long as they beat Holland Christian at home on Friday on Senior Night.
The irony is that the Trojans’ big break came courtesy of Spring Lake, their longtime archrival. Coaches and players from the two teams aren’t known for exchanging Christmas cards, but Fruitport sure appreciated the Lakers’ effort last week.
[2]“Maybe they like us a little bit after all,” Smith joked about the Lakers. “I’m never super excited for Spring Lake, but I was glad for our team.”
It was a great night all-around for Fruitport. The Trojans took in the exciting conference news after watching Paschal Jolman, their star senior running back, absolutely burn up the field for 339 yards and six touchdowns on only 13 carries against Hamilton.
The suspicion is that Jolman may have set a single-game Fruitport rushing record, but that’s still being sorted out.
“We kind of lost some records from Coach Wilson’s era,” Smith said, referring to legendary former head coach Steve Wilson. “He’s trying to track them down, but it’s got to be in that ballpark.
“Our offensive line was dominant. We only ran 29 plays. Some of the holes they created were gigantic. Of course some of it had to do with second-level moves that only a kid like Paschal can make.
[3]“He had a special night. We knew we were going to run the ball, and when you have a line like ours and a back like Paschal, we were destined to have a night like that.”
As great as last Friday was, the Trojans still have some regular season work to do, and the message about taking care of the business at hand still holds true.
If the Trojans can’t beat Holland Christian on Friday, Spring Lake’s gift will mean nothing and the chance for that first O-K Blue title will go down the drain.
The coaches are well aware of that. They began their preparations for the Maroons with a long planning meeting on Sunday night, and they’ve been stressing the importance of the game all week in practice.
“They would love nothing more than to ruin things for us,” Smith said about Holland Christian. “We are treating this game like a championship game, because it is.”
[4]Holland Christian (3-5) must be considered dangerous for several reasons.
The Maroons obviously have some talent, because most of their losses have been close games. Last week they lost to Allendale 28-21. In previous weeks they lost to Coopersville by only 10 points and West Catholic by only 14.
Holland Christian will also be eager to break a three-game losing streak, and this will be their de facto state championship game, because they won’t be headed to the playoffs.
“They’ve been in a lot of close games,” Smith said. “They spread their offense out, throw the ball around and have a lot of different formations. They are the kind of team that, if you make one mistake, they will capitalize on it.
“It’s our senior night, we have the playoffs looming, there’s the conference stuff – we need to get rid of all that noise and stay focused. We still have our best game to play.”
[5]