The good news is that the Fruitport football team’s offense showed a little more spark on Friday night, even without the services of its two standout running backs.
But the Trojan defense surrendered way too many big plays, and that proved to be the team’s undoing in a 39-7 loss to Big Rapids on the road in a non-conference battle.
Fruitport fell to 0-2, heading into next week’s O-K Silver conference opener at Kelloggsville. Big Rapids, a perennial playoff team, improved to 2-0.
The Fruitport defense was simply no match for the Big Rapids offense, which scored touchdowns on six of eight possessions, including three scoring plays covering 69, 89 and 47 yards, respectively.
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Against normal opponents, the defense might have gotten away with some of those mistakes, according to Fruitport head coach Nate Smith. But Big Rapids has formidable athletes on offense that were able to take full advantage, he said.
“Those (defensive) stunts that we didn’t execute correctly, or a few missed tackles, ended up being big plays,” Smith said. “That happens against teams with incredible athletes. They exploit them.”
The Trojans had some encouraging moments in the game, just like they did last week in their season-opening loss to Spring Lake.
Quarterback Brady Hanson completed an electrifying 91-yard touchdown pass to DayDay Williams in the first quarter, giving Fruitport a breath of life after two early Big Rapids scores.
Another highlight came on a first half kickoff return, when Blair Zimmer fielded the ball and handed it to Williams, who broke loose for about 40 yards before being tackled.
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The Trojans had three offensive series that extended fairly deep into Big Rapids territory, but did not produce points.
They also got some solid performances from young running backs who were filling in for injured starters Liam Campbell and Kalan Teeter.
Josh Eppard, Alan Jackson and Dariyon Gatlin all ran for some tough yards that kept the Trojans moving the chains at various times.
“The biggest frustration is that offensively we were moving the ball,” Smith said. “We just had some execution errors. We were so close on so many things. I thought Brady threw the ball well, the receivers did a good job, and the line played well.
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“We’re close, and that’s the message we shared with the guys tonight. We’ve had two tough games, now we head into the conference.”
Two weeks into the season, one glaring fact is unavoidable. Fruitport ended up losing to its first two opponents by big margins, just like last season, and faces the prospect of regrouping heading into the thick of the schedule.
Smith doesn’t believe that will be a problem.
“We certainly don’t feel good, but right now mentally we’re in a pretty good space for a team that’s had two pretty lobsided losses,” the coach said. “The guys celebrate the things that went well, and they are honest about what went wrong. They want to get better.”
It was a battle for a while…
The defensive problems became obvious right away, when Big Rapids scored on the first offensive possession of the game, on just the fourth play from scrimmage.
Jack Bullman broke loose for a 69-yard touchdown run, and the PAT kick gave the Cardinals a 7-0 lead.
The Cardinals scored again on their second possession, on a long 12-play drive, when quarterback Cole Haist found the end zone with a three-yard run. The extra point made it 14-0.
The Trojans got back into the game on their next possession, when Hanson and Williams connected for Fruitport’s only touchdown.
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The Trojans faced a third and long on their own nine when Williams caught the ball around the 30 and outraced the defenders all the way to the end zone. The extra point made the score 14-7.
Big Rapids scored again with 4:19 left in the second quarter on an eight-yard TD pass from Haist to Trenton Mossel. The PAT failed and the Cardinals led 20-7.
Both teams missed field goal attempts as the clock ran down, and the Cardinals went to halftime with the 13-point lead.
The teams traded turnovers to start the third quarter, then Haist scored on a three-yard run with 4:04 left in the third, giving Big Rapids a 26-6 lead.
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The Trojans kept battling, and drove the ball to the Big Rapids 17 before turning it over on downs.
The Cardinals capitalized on the very next play when Wyatt Skiera got loose for an 89-yard touchdown run, giving the home team a 32-7 lead.
Big Rapids wrapped up the scoring with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Haist to Skiera late in the game.
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