FRUITPORT – It was pretty clear, before the season started, that the Fruitport football team had some offensive weapons, and the Trojans were going to put up some points.

And the Trojans have certainly done that for the past two weeks, winning two games in a row and improving their record to 2-2.

A lot of the question marks surrounded the defense, which has been the case for several years at Fruitport.

The Trojans traditionally give up a lot of points, in good years and bad.

Between 2020 and 2024, Fruitport gave up at least 30 points in a game 25 times, and at least 40 in a game 18 times.

It was even an issue in 2022, they won the O-K Blue conference title and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. They gave up at least 30 points in five games that year, and at least 40 three times.

The trend continued in the first two weeks of this season, when Spring Lake put up 42 points on Fruitport and Big Rapids scored 39.

But suddenly the Trojans have a two-game winning streak, following last Friday’s 42-12 victory over Napoleon, and the defense has played a big role.

The Trojans have only given up three touchdowns, and a total of 20 points, in the past two weeks, which is the fewest points the team has surrendered over a two-game span in years.

The Fruitport D has been downright stingy, even against a team like Napoleon, which runs a deceptive Wing-T offense that’s designed to hide the ball from defenders.

Alan Jackson led the successful defense with seven tackles while Colton Smith, Kalan Teeter and Evan LaGuire had six apiece. Each adding five were Easton Fett, Josh Eppard and Blair Zimmer.

“We have a really good defensive plan, but we had that before,” said Fruitport head coach Nate Smith. “I think these kids are much more focused and trusting of what they are doing. They understand the scheme and they are executing it.

“In the past they would try to do too much and revert to old habits. These guys are more disciplined, and when you do that you start to have success and believe in what you are doing.”’

High-scoring Comstock Park will be a test…

The Trojan defense should get a really good test on Friday night, when Comstock Park comes to town in Fruitport’s second O-K Silver conference game of the season.

The Panthers, 1-2 overall, have been scoring a lot of points, particularly in the past two weeks. In Game 2 they lost to Godwin Heights 44-41 and last week fell to Holland 56-53.

Comstock Park did not have a game in Week 1, and have played one less game than Fruitport.

“They bring different challenges, for sure,” Smith said about the Panthers. “They have some really good athletes in space and they run at a very high tempo. They probably run a play every 15 to 20 seconds, and almost force you to stay vanilla from a defensive standpoint. It’s going to be a challenge for us to stay focused and stick to our assignments, no matter what the tempo or what looks they give us.”

The Panthers score so much because they throw so much, according to Smith.

“They chuck the ball around,” he said. “They are probably close to 65-70 percent, pass vs. run. Most of the time they are going to have four receivers in their set. They want to spread your defense out, then hit you underneath with the big one. If you blow a coverage, you can give up a touchdown.”

Last year’s Comstock Park game is a great memory for the Trojans, who rallied late on the road, won 30-27 in the final seconds and broke a long 12-game losing streak that dated back to 2022.

But it’s probably a painful memory for the Panthers, and should provide them with a fair amount of incentive on Friday, according to Smith.

“There was a lot of relief – it was a long time coming,” the coach said about the 2024 victory. “It felt like the first part of the first half, we were in control, then we fumbled and had a pick-six and suddenly it was a tight game. Then we scored late and held them off at the end. It was a turning point, because our guys realized they could compete and win close games.

“Comstock Park was a good football team last year, and they have a lot of guys back. It’s going to be a motivational game for them. We expect them to be incredibly motivated.”

Now it’s all about the O-K Silver

With the three non-conference games out of the way, the Trojans will be completely focused on competing for an O-K Silver conference championship.

Fruitport has only played one conference game so far – a win over Kelloggsville in Week 3 – while most of the other teams have played twice.

Right now the big surprise is Godwin Heights, which finished 3-3 in the league last year, but is tied for first place with defending champion Belding at 2-0. Godwin Heights turned a lot of heads by beating Hopkins 26-16 last Friday.

Fruitport is in third place at 1-0 in the Silver, Comstock Park is 1-1, Holland is 0-1 and Hopkins and Kelloggsville are both 0-2.

Smith says it appears that many teams in the conference are better than they were last year, and there will be no easy opponents the rest of the way.

“I think the conference across the board is up,” the coach said. “I think Belding is still the team that everyone is gunning for. Our goal is to be in the equation for the conference title, and we have an opportunity to do that.

“We have a lot of push games (tossup games) moving forward. There is nobody we are going to wipe the table with. It might be nice to play a team that’s terrible one week, but that’s not what our schedule looks like. It’s going to force us to be a better team each week, and I really like that.”