MUSKEGON – The West Michigan Ironmen have always had a great passing attack, and fans hear a lot about quarterback Alex Carder throwing touchdown bombs to standout receivers like Sterling Alexander and John Ross.

Tyler Bruce has also been a very good receiver for the Ironmen, but hasn’t caught as many TD passes or headlines as the other guys.

But Saturday night it was his turn to shine.

Bruce had three touchdown receptions – covering 7, 28 and 34 yards, respectively – to lead the Ironmen to an easy 72-12 victory over the visiting Toledo Shamrocks at Muskegon’s Trinity Health Arena.

Tyler Bruce (12), who had three touchdown catches, breaks into the open field with the ball. Photo/Jeremy Clark

Bruce, who also had one TD catch in the Ironmen’s season opener, said it was exciting to have a breakout night.

“I’ve never had a big night like that,” said Bruce, who’s in his second year with the Ironmen. “I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be out here. This was the first big night for me. It was an honor and a blessing. All the glory goes to God. I’m very appreciative of it.”

“I expect that out of him,” Ironmen head coach Terry Mitchell said about Bruce. “He’s a big-time player.”

While the Ironmen certainly dominated, as the final score indicates, they were not quite as sharp as they were in their season opener, when they beat the Tri-State Bucks 82-6.

They had their share of glitches, particularly on offense, with several incomplete passes, a Toledo interception, numerous penalties and a botched extra point attempt where they didn’t get the kick away.

Clay Oliver (11) makes a tackle from behind. Photo/Jeremy Clark

That was probably the result of the schedule, which left the Ironmen with a very long break between their first game, almost a month ago, and Saturday’s game.

“We came out a little rusty, but I expected it after being off for three weeks,” Coach Mitchell said. “I talked to the guys at halftime about my expectations, and even though we came out flat, we wanted to come out in the second half and be more aggressive and just be dominant in all phases of the game.”

Fortunately, even the rough-edged version of the Ironmen was more than enough to secure the victory, and there won’t be any more long breaks like that in the regular season.

The Ironmen will return to action next Friday at home against the Ohio Boom, then will close out the regular season with another home game on April 19 against the Michigan Avengerz.

West Michigan’s Willie Shanks avoids a tackle on his way to the end zone. Photo/Jeremy Clark

“Now we can get into a rhythm,” Mitchell said. “When we came off the 82-6 win, we were off three weeks and guys were wondering if we should practice or not. We were getting low numbers at practice, but now that we’re week to week, we can get the ball rolling and everyone at practice.”

The Ironmen led 18-0 after one quarter, 38-6 at halftime and 58-6 after three quarters.

Carder finished with five touchdown passes and one touchdown run.

Besides the three scoring strikes to Bruce, Carder threw a 12-yard TD pass to Ross and a 33-yarder to Sterling Alexander.

Sterling Alexander hauls in a catch for West Michigan. Photo/Jeremy Clark

Willie Shanks had 41-yard kickoff return touchdown for the Ironmen, DavVeon Taylor had two short touchdown runs and Clay Oliver had a fumble recovery TD.

The Ironmen defense also gained four points by recording two safeties.

Raheem Stokes intercepted two passes for West Michigan. Ryan Armstrong and Zach Watts each had one fumble recovery.

“I’d give us a B-plus,” Mitchell said about the overall performance. “For next week, we want to make adjustments to some little things, like lining up right and not playing down to our competition. We want to play our game and stay focused so we don’t give up touchdowns like we did at the end.”

SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
WM – 7-yard touchdown pass from Alex Carder to Tyler Bruce. Carder extra point. 7-0
WM – Defensive safety. 9-0.
WM – 41-yard kickoff return touchdown by Willie Shanks. Carder extra point. 16-0
WM – Defensive safety. 18-0

SECOND QUARTER
WM – 7-yard touchdown run by DavVeon Taylor Sr. Carder extra point no good. 24-0
TOL – 20-yard touchdown pass from Jeffrey Greenert to Chris Frison Jr. Two point attempt no good. 24-6.
WM – 1-yard touchdown run by DevVeon Taylor Sr. Carder extra point. 31-6
WM – Clay Oliver 1-yard fumble recovery touchdown run. Carder extra point. 38-6

THIRD QUARTER
WM – 28-yard touchdown pass from Alex Carder to Tyler Bruce. Carder extra point. 45-6
WM – 33-yard touchdown pass from Alex Carder to Sterling Alexander. Carder extra point no good. 51-6
WM – 34-yard touchdown pass from Alex Carder to Tyler Bruce. Carder extra point. 58-6

FOURTH QUARTER
WM – 12-yard touchdown pass from Alex Carder to John Ross. Carder extra point. 65-6
WM – 5-yard touchdown run by Alex Carder. Carder extra point. 72-6
TOL – 5-yard touchdown pass from Tim Loftin to Joshua Butler. No extra point attempt. 72-12