Rockford Rams 35, Grandville Bulldogs 38

Pass-Happy Grandville Wins
Jeff Chaney / Grand Rapids Press

Brad Iciek looked like he could have thrown the ball 50 more times. The Grandville senior qb led his Bulldogs to an exciting 38-35 win over visiting Rockford Friday night with an impressive aerial assault. He completed 25 passes on 49 attempts for 391 yards and four touchdowns and said after the game that he felt great. "The arms not tired at all," Iciek said. " It's all good when it ends like this."

Like he did all game, Iciek victimized the Ram defensive backfield late in the game with his team trailing by four points. With just more than three minutes to play, Iciek hit senior running back Andrew Hawken on an inside slant play that Hawken took down the right sidelines for 54 yards and the game wining touchdown. "It was a privilege to be a part of this game," Grandville coach Irv Sigler said. "What a great high school game." Sigler said that last play was a big play, but pointed to the start of the game as the turning point in the outcome.

The Bulldogs came out a bit sluggish, and Rockford took advantage with some excellent special teams play. After holding Grandville's offense on its first series, Rockford's Zach Breen blocked the punt and returned it to the Grandville 6 yard line. One play later, Breen ran the ball in for a TD and a 7-0 lead. The Bulldog's offense was stopped on its next series, and this time the punt got away, but Callan Sherd caught the ball on the Grandville 42 yard line and returned it the distance for a 14-0 lead just more than three minutes into the game.

But Iciek and his teammates would not be denied. Three plays into the 3rd drive, Iciek hit wide receive Matt Laskovy for a 79 yard scoring strike to cut the Rockford lead in half and allow Grandville to get some momentum back. "That play completely turned things around", Sigler said. "That play gave us confidence and changed the game around." Rockford coach Ralph Munger admitted big plays like that doomed his team. "There were a lot of ups and a lot of downs in this game for us," Munger said. "And now we have to figure out how to eliminate the downs and get more of the ups."

The ups for the Rams were their special teams play and quarterback Spencer Klukowski, who threw for 136 yards and a score and rushed for 45 yards. But the night belonged to Iciek, who completed his 25 passes to eight different Grandville receivers. "The run wasn't working so well we stuck with the pass," Iciek said. "We threw the ball last week and just figured to stick with it tonight."