FRUITPORT — The Fruitport football team came into Thursday’s season opener with high hopes for the new year, and was eager to test itself against fierce rival Spring Lake.
But few things went according to plan in the annual Battle of the Bayou. Spring Lake took control early and never looked back, beating Fruitport 42-14 at Fruitport’s Doc Pierce Field.
It marked Spring Lake’s third straight win in the rivalry, and its seventh in the last eight seasons.
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“Obviously when you start off with a big game like this, it feels a heck of a lot worse than if it was a (non-rivalry) game,” said Fruitport Coach Nate Smith. “Being your rival and watching them host the oar again, it hurts. I think our guys have to own that, feel it, and then put the work in to get beyond it.”
Smith said he believes in the team’s resiliency, and losing Week 1 shouldn’t change the Trojans’ mindset going forward.
“We talked about playing for each other,” he said. “That doesn’t change. We have eight more games ahead of us. I think that’s got to be the focus.
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“They’ll continue to play for each other and we’ll come out again next week and play one game at a time.”
The evening wasn’t without its bright spots for the Trojans. Junior Alan Jackson returned a kickoff for a touchdown, the offense put together a late scoring drive, and the defense managed two takeaways in the first half.
Those moments, however, were outweighed by the struggles to get the run game going, and the inability to stop the Lakers’ offense.
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“We’ve got a lot of growth ahead of us,” Smith said. “Right now we feel from an offensive perspective that we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We had some missed assignments.
“We’ll look for the things that we can build on, but we’re really going to look at the things we can correct.”
Spring Lake scored first on a two-yard touchdown run by Mason Herrema with 10:10 left in the second quarter. An extra point kick from Logan Strey made it 7-0.
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The Lakers extended their lead on a 14-yard TD run by Owen Smies with 5:26 left in the half. Strey’s extra point made it 14-0, which was the halftime score.
Spring Lake added to its lead on a 35-yard touchdown run by Jack Nash with 7:08 left in the third quarter.
Fruitport got on the board on the ensuing kickoff when Jackson fielded the ball and ran it back 95 yards for a touchdown. Bryson Simila’s extra point made the score 21-7.
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The Lakers responded three plays later when quarterback Landon O’Donnell scored from a yard out to make it 28-7 with 5:44 left in the third.
O’Donnell added another rushing score from 23 yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 35-7. Nash scored his second TD, a seven-yard score, with 5:41 left in the fourth to make it 42-7.
Fruitport scored the game’s final points on a five-yard run by Carsen Crow with 40 seconds left on the clock.
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Fruitport quarter Brady Hanson was 7-of-12 passing for 66 yards and an interception. Crow led the Trojans in rushing with 81 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Joshawa Eppard had 43 yards on 11 carries. DayDay Williams had four catches for 49 yards.
Williams also recovered a fumble on defense, while Hanson intercepted a pass. Williams, Eppard, Mason DeVries and Chase Rosema each had a handful of tackles for the Trojans.
Fruitport will look to rebound on the road next week against Big Rapids. The Cardinals beat Paw Paw 19-7 to start their season.
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