RHS 27, G'ville 12
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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