More than 6,000 fans attended Friday night's game at West Ottawa
between Rockford and the Panthers, and it's possible that no one saw
how exactly the Rams pulled this one out. Did anybody see it? Rockford
quarterback Steve Fusee dropped back to pass, then slipped the ball
to running back Baron Grutter, who rushed 58 yards for the touchdown,
giving the Rams a 16-12 victory over the Panthers. The draw play fooled
the Panther defenders. Fusee was thrown to the ground while Grutter
slipped through the line and broke free into the secondary. By the
time the Panthers had realized Grutter had the ball, he was home free.
The No. 3 ranked Rams remained undefeated and gave West Ottawa its
first loss of the season in the O-K Red Conference showdown. Grutter's
touchdown came with 8:10 to go in the game. Rockford fell behind 12-0
early, but scored on a 90-yard pass play on the final play of the
first quarter. "That might have been one of only a few offensive plays
we executed well tonight," Rockford coach Ralph Munger said of the
fourth-quarter draw. "It's pretty difficult when you have to go through
your sheet and none of the plays worked. "But we hit one. We hit one.
And it was a big one. I'm pleased, obviously."
West Ottawa, 4-1 overall, played nearly three quarters of the game
without standout senior running back Ameer Ismail, who injured his
ankle with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. Ismail did not
return. "Unfortunately, we gave up two big plays," West Ottawa coach
Jim Caserta said. "We gave up a long pass play, and then the draw
play. We had a guy assigned to him, and then we made a mistake. On
the pass play, we had a guy on him, but we missed a tackle. That was
how they beat us."
The Panthers held the upper hand in the first half. They converted
three fourth-down plays in the opening quarter. West Ottawa dominated
time of possession considering the Panthers ran 37 plays to Rockford's
13. The Panthers had an opportunity to extend their 12-7 lead before
halftime, too, but Rockford's Andy Henshaw pounced on a West Ottawa
fumble at the Rams 18.
West Ottawa took the game's opening kickoff and marched 55 yards
in 10 plays to go up 6-0. Dean Klingenberg took a pitch and rambled
right from 5 yards out for the score. West Ottawa struck again late
in the first quarter when quarterback C.J. VanWieren dropped back
and rolled right on fourth-and-20 at the Rockford 31. He then looked
left, and with a hand in his face, lobbed a pass downfield to Klingenberg,
who pulled in the ball and scampered into the end zone. Rockford answered
on its next possession on one play from its own 10. Fusee dropped
a quick hook pass to Erik Hansen, who juked by one defender, then
raced down the sidelines for a 90-yard touchdown. Eric Ledbetter's
25-yard field goal in the third quarter brought Rockford to within
12-10. (By Steve Kaminski The Grand Rapids Press)