Head game does wonders
for Rams QB
By Jane Bos / The Grand Rapids Press
Rockford quarterback Spencer
Klukowski, helmet in hand, stood near midfield after a wild
23-21 victory over Forest Hills Northern Friday night and talked
about a defining moment late in the first quarter..
He had just thrown an interception.
And he spent the next four minutes in turmoil, watching the
host Huskies score the first touchdown of the game.
Klukowski watched the next
series, too, as his backup, Josh Rauser, took the snaps.
"Coach (Ralph) Munger was talking
to me after the interception, and I got too emotional, I wasn't
really paying attention to what he said," Klukowski, a 5-foot-10,
165-pound junior, said. "I needed to get my head back in the
game, I needed to focus."
Head Adjustment 101 worked.
When he re-entered the game,
it took four plays -- highlighted by a 58-yard touchdown pass
to Mike Steinebach -- for Klukowski to prove his renewed focus.
Then the Rams defense held
tough. And for the second time in the first half, they stopped
the Huskies inside the Rockford 10-yard line.
This time Klukowski ran the
two-minute drill to perfection. The Rams needed eight plays
to reach the end zone, capped off by Klukowski's 10-yard scoring
pass to Bryan Anderson, with 4.8 seconds to go. He also tossed
a two-point conversion pass to Dustin Pomarius for a 14-7 halftime
lead.
Klukowski wound up completing
14 of 22 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns.
Rockford, 2-0 overall, clearly
needed all Klukowski's attention in order to hold off talented
Forest Hills Northern (1-1) in the O-K Red Metro opener.
The Huskies even had a chance
to win at the end.
Trailing by two points, they
had the ball deep in Rockford territory with less than a minute
to play. But the Rams Anderson intercepted a pass on the 5-yard
line. Rockford ran out the final 46.7 seconds.
"Forest Hills has wonderful
team, holy smokes," Munger said. "Are they tough or what? They
are physical, they are big, the whole deal.
"But I tell you what, I am
so proud of my kids. I mean, you have no idea. We're just coming
together so well. They are scratching and clawing and moving
and hanging tough. It's remarkable. It truly is. Even if it
hadn't gone our way at the end, this game would've been a good
thing."
Forest Hills Northern coach
Brent Myers agreed.
"It was a great football game," he
said. "We gave our kids a chance to win at the end. We told
our kids to keep their chins up in the air. They played a great
game, and that's all you can ask."
The Huskies, who scored first
on a 1-yard run by Tom Serbowicz, kept it close. They knotted
the score at 14-14 on the second play of the second half on
a 48-yard run by Andrew Kimball.
Rockford then scored twice
-- a 22-yard field goal by Steve Kamphuis and a 45-yard pass
from Klukowski to Devin Brooks -- to go up 23-14 with 11:51
left.
About four minutes later, the
Forest Hills Northern narrowed the score to 23-21 on Serbowicz's
13-yard romp.
All that remained were a Rockford
punt and the final interception.
Forest Hills Northern totaled
389 yards rushing, led by Kimball with 204 yards. The Huskies
also had 33 yards passing. Rockford totaled 433 yards in offense.
"This is what high school sports
are all about," Munger said. "Character building, confidence
building, and all of that."
Oh, and head-straightening,
too.
"Well, let's just say Spence
needed some adjustments inside his head," Munger said. "We
made that quarterback change, and that refocused him. It worked."
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