FRUITPORT – The Fruitport football team has a two-game winning streak.

That sounds almost as strange as saying that the Detroit Tigers are on the verge of clinching a spot in the American League playoffs.

Neither of those things have happened in quite a while, and both seemed to come out of nowhere.

In fact, after the first two weeks of the season, Fruitport fans had every reason to suspect that the team’s painful 12-game losing streak might continue for some time. A 40-6 loss to Spring Lake in Week 1, followed by a 41-14 loss to Big Rapids, offered little evidence that anything had changed.

The stunning 30-27 come-from-behind victory over Comstock Park in Week 3 was exciting, and ended the long losing skid, but probably did not convince many people that the Trojans were a team to take seriously.

But now, after Friday’s decisive 35-14 win over Muskegon Catholic Central, Fruitport has to be viewed a little differently.

There’s no doubt that the Trojans are viewing themselves in a different light, now that they know that the first win was not a fluke.

“We had lost two games, but the players stuck to the plan and believed in each other, and now they are seeing the results,” said Fruitport head coach Nate Smith. “There is a lot of positivity going on.”

The way the Trojans won both games has undoubtedly been a huge confidence-builder.

Against Comstock Park they lost a 10-point lead, fell behind by 10, then came back to win in a dramatic finish.

On Friday against MCC, the Trojans trailed early, came back to take the lead, were tied after three quarters – then pulled together and scored the last three touchdowns of the game.

Quarterback Brady Hanson hit DayDay Williams with a 49-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Fruitport led 21-14.

Five play later Kalan Teeter intercepted an MCC pass, then switched over the offense and scored on a 44-yard touchdown run, putting the Trojans up 28-14.

The final nail in MCC’s coffin came when Fruitport’s Ethan Riggs recovered a fumble, then Frankie Kotecki had a touchdown run to seal the victory.

“We are not the same team in a lot of ways (compared to Week 1),” Smith said. “Mentally we’re in a much better place, and a lot of it has to do with the way we won the last two games. We showed some resilience and came back and did what we had to do.

“We have told them all along that the team that plays the most physical for the longest time is going to win, and now they believe it. They are ready now to handle the ups and downs of full games and a long season.”

Trojans a contender for a conference title?

One really fun fact, at least for the moment, is that the Trojans are withing striking distance of first place in their new O-K Silver conference with a 1-0 record.

Whether they could be a serious contender for the title could be answered this Friday when Fruitport travels east to Belding to face the Black Knights in a key O-K Silver matchup.

Belding has been a very good football team for a long time – the Black Knights have made the state playoffs seven out of the last eight years – and nothing has changed this season.

After a 20-6 season-opening loss to Ionia, Belding has rebounded with a vengeance, blowing away Spring Lake (47-22), Kelloggsville (64-6) and Holland (50-21).

Belding and Hopkins are both 2-0 in the conference standings while Fruitport is 1-0 and looking to stay in the race.

“Everything we wanted is still in front of us,” Smith said. “Being at the top of the conference and being in the playoffs, those are still realistic goals. We have a lot of things that we still have to do better, but we’ve been telling the guys that we have to keep the same mentality of becoming a better program, win or lose, and I think they get that.

“We have an incredibly tough game this week against a big, physical and strong football team, but I think the guys will be up for the challenge. We know we will have to play better than we did against MCC.”

Who is that playing quarterback?

One impressive fact about Friday’s win is that the Trojans had to play without senior starting quarterback Bradon Dornbos, who was the hero of the victory in Comstock Park.

He suffered a concussion and had to sit out, leaving the crucial QB duties to Hanson, a sophomore who had taken some snaps this season, but had little varsity experience as a quarterback.

Hanson performed admirably, completing 3 of 6 passes, including the 49-yard touchdown throw to Williams.

Smith said the coaches had been preparing Hanson to play at least part of the game at QB against MCC, even before they knew that Dornbos would not play.

The plan going forward is to use both of them under center in different situations, because Hanson has proven he can handle the job, and Dornbos is a great athlete who can do damage to opposing defenses from various positions.

“Hanson brings a different skill set to the table,” Smith said. “We didn’t know about Dornbos until Wednesday and Hanson took the majority of snaps in practice on Monday and Tuesday. I think the guys have a lot of confidence in Brady. He’s very knowledgeable about the offense and football in general.

“He reads defenses really well, anticipates really well, and he’s a good distributor. His short passing game is really good.  He shows a lot of calm for a sophomore. His head is in the right space.”

Who is that that playing running back?

The biggest surprise of Friday’s game was the sudden, out-of-the-blue emergence of freshman Liam Cambell, who spent the first three weeks of the season as the starting quarterback for the JV squad.

He was called up to varsity when Dornbos was ruled out for Friday’s game, and ended up starting at running back, which was probably a head-scratcher for a lot of confused fans.

Campbell ended up rushing 27 times for 122 yards and a touchdown in the win.

“We had talked about him early on, and we knew he was going to be a special athlete,” Smith said. “He is going to end up being a running back for us. He just has the natural instincts and the discipline for it. I think the future is really bright for him.

“His challenge on Friday was to be patient, following blocks and the path. On his first run he went outside the blocking path and got a yard or two, we reminded him to stay patient, and on the next one he ran for 12 years. He ran well beyond his years.”

Campbell will remain on the varsity squad, and like Hanson will play significant role in the offense going forward.

“He’s staying up,” Smith said. “He’s stuck with us.”