FRUITPORT – There are some positive perspectives for frustrated Fruitport football fans to consider, following another heartbreaking loss last week, and heading into Friday’s Week 4 road game against Allendale.

One bright spot is that the Trojans have proven they are capable of competing with anyone on their schedule. The first three weeks were unquestionably the toughest part of the schedule, and while the Trojans are 1-2, they were very, very close to being 3-0.

The Trojans were tied with Hopkins in Week 1, and were marching toward what might have been the winning score, when the Vikings stole the victory with a pick-six with 49 seconds remaining.

Then last Friday, the Trojans were on the verge of handing Belding its first conference loss since 2021, before the Black Knights scored the winning touchdown with 13 seconds left.

The even more hopeful part is that Fruitport’s schedule gets significantly easier over the rest of the regular season.

The six remaining opponents are a combined 6-12 through the first three weeks of the season.

Allendale is off to an 0-3 start. Kelloggsville is 2-1 while Holland, Calvin Christian, Comstock Park and NorthPointe Christian are all 1-2.

While no game is by any means a guaranteed victory, the coming opponents are a far cry from Belding, which is 3-0 and has outscored its opponents 134-69, and Hopkins, which is also 3-0 and has outscored its opponents 121-41.

Allendale opened the season with a 14-0 loss to Holland Christian, then fell to Reed City 41-32 and Cedar Springs 63-34.

The Falcons’ offense is built around its ground game, and the main threat is running back Cayden Pattison, according to media reports.

The starting quarterback is Ryan Holstege, who can go to the air when necessary, and has two good receivers in Kingsten Fuller and Landen Grifhorst.

The Trojans and Falcons used to do battle in the O-K Blue conference through the 2023 season, before Fruitport joined the O-K Silver.

Fruitport is 2-2 against Allendale. The Trojans won the last meeting, 68-7 in 2023.

Friday’s game will the the Trojans’ only non-conference game of the season.

“They have some good athletes, and on film they look the part,” said Fruitport head coach John Shipley said about Allendale. “They will be physical. They have a new defensive coordinator who does some different things.

“We are still just taking things one day and one week at a time. We are optimistic because we are 1:30 away from being 3-0 instead of 1-2. When you are playing good teams, the margin for error is very small. Overall I am very encouraged. Our seniors are doing a good job of leading, and I’m encouraged by the physicality up front along the lines.”

Great defensive response

One big point of pride for Fruitport last Friday was the bend-but-not break performance of the defense – particularly after a very rough start.

Belding running back Cam Larsen broke through the middle for a 68-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the game, giving his team a 7-0 lead just eight seconds into the contest.

At that point, almost everyone must have been thinking, here we go again. Belding beat the 55-7T in 2024, and 36-7 last year, and it seemed as though another very long night was ahead for the Trojans.

But the defense quickly pulled itself together, kept the game close, and allowed the offense to fight back and grab a lead very late in the game.

The defense stopped the Black Knight’s second offensive drive of the game on downs at the Trojan 25-yard line.

Belding scored on its third drive, but it’s fourth possession, which started with more than four minutes left in the first half, came up dry.

Belding’s fifth drive was a three-and-out. The sixth drive got Belding to the Fruitport 26, but stalled when the defense stopped the Black Knights on a fourth-and-1 play.

What started out looking like it might be a horrible night for the Trojans turned into a really close, exciting game, because the defense held firm.

The Black Knights scored 60 and 55 points against Kelloggsville and Holland in the first two weeks of the season, respectively. They finished with 19 against the Trojans, and six of those points came on the final drive  of the game, which started at the Fruitport 30 after a long kickoff return and a 15-yard penalty.

“I thought our defense played really well,” Shipley said. “On that first play they got us, but after that our kids responded and kept fighting the whole game. In the third quarter, and into the fourth, they had like a 12-minute drive that ended with a fourth down stop, and that led to our drive that gave us the lead.

“I am proud of the boys and how they played true to Coach Jason Durem’s game plan. They played physical. When you go up against Belding, the number one key to competing is to just play physical.”

One Fruitport defender who had a great game was senior linebacker Alan Jackson. He had five tackles on Belding’s second drive alone, and finished with a team-leading nine tackles with four assists.

‘Alan is a force,” Shipley said. “When he’s locked in and playing fast and physical and free, he does his job really well. He played a good game on Friday.”

Fellow linebacker Josh Eppard also played great, with six tackles and four assists. Mason DeVries had three tackles and six assists, Colton Smith had four tackles and one assist, and Ashten Kemp had one tackle and four assists.

Jordan Modrzejewski and Dylan Avery each recorded three assists.