WYOMING – The Fruitport football team learned a tough lesson in a 15-12 loss to Godwin Heights on Friday night:
You’ve got to strike early and often, even against a team you have a good chance to beat, because you might not be able to overcome a bad first half.
And the Trojans had a terrible first half, turning the ball over four times on a muffed punt and three interceptions. They were held to 88 yards of total offense and failed to score.
That proved costly at the end of the game, when the Trojans drove to the Godwin Heights seven-yard line in the final minute with a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown, but an incomplete pass on fourth down doomed the comeback effort.
[1]When it was all said and done, the Trojans could only wonder what might have happened if they had executed properly before halftime.
“It was hugely disappointing,” Fruitport head coach Nate Smith said about the ugly first two quarters. “We talked at halftime about how we can put up with physical mistakes, but mental mistakes are inexcusable. I think 90 percent of the mistakes we made in the first half were mental.”
The failure to mount any sort of early offense allowed Godwin Heights to take a 7-0 halftime lead on a 54-yard run with 1:38 remaining in the first quarter.
The game got interesting in the second half, with some odd twists and turns.
The Wolverines drove to the Trojans’ 10-yard line to begin the third quarter before turning the ball over on downs.
[2]On the ensuing drive, the Trojans finally woke up, driving 90 yads on 18 plays and scoring a touchdown.
Liam Campbell capped the long drive – which took nearly 10 minutes off the clock- with a one-yard touchdown run.
The PAT kick attempt failed after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the ball back 15 yards, and Fruitport trailed 7-6 with 8:15 left in the game.
Godwin Heights quickly responded on its next possession and scored in eight plays, extending the lead to 13-6.
[3]The Wolverines lined up for what looked like a normal extra point kick, but the holder ran the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion, making the score 15-6.
The Trojans punched back quickly with the skill and speed of junior DayDay Williams.
He took a reverse handoff on the ensuing kickoff and raced 90 yards for a touchdown. A bad snap on the extra point attempt left Godwin Heights with a 15-12 lead with 4:55 remaining.
On the following possession, facing third down and nine, Godwin Heights threw a pass to the right sideline area, where Williams picked it off and returned it to the Wolverine 25 with 3:12 left on the clock.
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“He’s a guy who wants the ball in his hands,” Coach Smith said about Williams. “He wants the opportunity to get things done and he stays locked in. He’s a special kind of player, no doubt about it.”
Facing fourth-and-14 with just over two minutes remaining, Fruitport quarterback Brady Hanson found Bradon Dornbos for an 18-yard completion on a wheel route down the left sideline, and the Trojans had the ball at the Godwin Heights 11.
With just under a minute left, Fruitport faced a fourth-and-six from the Godwin Heights seven-yard line.
Hanson tried to find Dornbos with another pass, but it fell incomplete in the end zone, ending Fruitport’s chance to salvage a win.
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The Trojans could have attempted a field goal on fourth down and possibly tied the game, but elected to go for the touchdown.
“We felt like we could get it,” said Smith, whose team is now 2-4 overall and 1-2 in O-K Silver conference play. “We had missed some PATs (point after attempts) and had some guys injured, so we didn’t have full field goal team out there. We thought we had a better chance to go for it.”
Campbell led the Trojans with 108 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries while Dornbos totaled 46 yards on 12 carries.
“We can still do some things,” Smith said about the remaining three games on the schedule. “We can still end up with a winning season. I think this is going to be a big eye-opener. I think we couldn’t have played any poorer tonight. We felt confident coming in, and almost too confident. Nothing against Godwin, but we just didn’t do things well.”
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