RHS 27, G'ville 12
On
a night where so much looked impressive for Rockford and its football
team, the toast of the homecoming evening was quarterback Steve Fusee.
Fusee tossed a pair of touchdown passes to lead Rockford to an easier-than-it-looked
27-12 O-K Red Conference victory over Grandville Friday night.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior, who started two games a year ago,
tantalized the record crowd of more than 12,000 fans gathered at Ted
Carlson Memorial Field. He completed 9 of 14 passes, including one
40-yarder to Peter Min, for 134 yards.
The victory kept Rockford, ranked second in the state in Division
1, perfect on the season (7-0) and in the Red (5-0). The Rams need
a win next week at Grand Haven to clinch at least a share of the conference
crown.
Grandville is 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the Red.
"I
haven't seen a guy play any better than Fusee did tonight," said Grandville
coach Irv Sigler III. "He was spectacular. He seemed to have command
of the game. He was fearless. He knew what he had to do and he did
it."
Fusee's first touchdown, a 22-yarder to Erik Hansen midway through
the first quarter, gave the Rams a 7-0 lead.
His second, a 32-yard toss to Baron Grutter in the third quarter,
put them on top, 27-0.
Sandwiched between these two scores were a 3-yard scoring run by Nate
Teft and a 1-yard touchdown romp by Bill Beckwith. Both scores came
in the second quarter, giving Rockford a 19-0 lead at halftime.
"Steve's
always been an incredible quarterback," said Grutter, who led the
Rams with 67 yards rushing. "He throws well. He has a good mind. He
really knows the offense so well. He works harder than anyone else
all the time."
Of course on Friday, the Rockford defense looked good, too.
After giving up a lot of points last week in a 40-36 win over East
Kentwood, Rockford improved against Grandville.
Derek Donley led the Rams defense with nine tackles and one fumble
recovery.
"We
are obviously happy with that," Rockford coach Ralph Munger said about
the defense. "I'll tell you what, overall, our kids played pretty
good. We showed a little bit of rust with our second guys in there,
but they haven't been on the field a lot this year."
In five of their first six games this season, the Rams squeaked by,
winning by an average of three points per game.
With the second unit in Friday, Grandville scored twice. The first
time, freshman fullback Andrew Hawken rambled in for a 3-yard score.
The second, which came with 41 seconds left in the game, was a 4-yard
pass from Dan Start to Dan Stuk.
Start completed 8 of 21 passes for 125 yards.
"Our
kids are really playing well," Sigler said. "Coming into the season,
I don't think anyone guessed our kids would be here, playing for a
possible share of a league title.
"Rockford
just played great. We watched lots and lots of film, and then you
get on the field with them, you see how big and strong they are."
That strength starts with Fusee.
"Oh,
the whole team played so well," Fusee said. "They all stepped it up
tonight. The whole team all did it. We're all just having fun this
year. We're playing well as a team. It's a team effort."
On top of everything, he's humble, too. No wonder he's the toast of
the town.
By Jane Bos (The Grand Rapids Press)
GREAT WIN RAMS!!! ROCKFORD TRAVELS TO
GRAND HAVEN NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT.
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