Rockford rams Kentwood
Saturday
By Jane Bos / The Grand Rapids Press
Rockford senior quarterback Spencer
Klukowski thumped his heart as best he could through his shoulder
pads
and jersey and said, "It feels good right here." The
Rams' 41-17 thumping of previously unbeaten East Kentwood,
the two-time defending O-K Red Metro Conference champs ranked
third in the state, meant more than simply a victory.
It was a thumping a long time coming.
"
I have never beaten them before, never," said Klukowski, a three-year
varsity player who threw for 207 yards, ran in a 1-yard touchdown and tossed
a two-point
conversion pass. "Not once. To do it on their field, it feels pretty
good right now." After suffering a wild 38-35 loss to Grandville two
weeks ago, Rockford, ranked sixth in Division 1, needed the win to stay alive
in the conference
race. Only
Hudsonville, which East Kentwood faces next week, is unbeaten. "
We needed this win, coming off the big loss, for morale," Klukowski
said. "We
knew we had to prepare hard for this one. We looked at it that we had to
win this one."
The Rams won it in a unique way,
behind the foot of Steve Kamphuis. The 5-foot-11, 145-pound
senior kicker booted a school-record four
field goals -- from 31,
21, 31 and 20 yards -- and he booted all three of his point-after kicks.
His first two field goals came after Rockford failed to convert
on third down inside the 13-yard line in the first quarter,
giving the visitors
a 6-0 lead.
This marked the first time this season anyone scored on Kentwood in the
first quarter. "
I don't like to have to kick so many field goals, but the bottom line is,
that is points on the scoreboard," said Rockford coach Ralph Munger,
whose team never trailed and led 20-10 at halftime.
" I did not expect this. I
really felt if we had an opportunity to score tonight; I thought
that would be our strength. They took that away from us, and
credit
them for that." Scoring once they reach the red zone is one of the
few things the rams, who racked up 428 yards in offense, need to work
on. Rockford scored on every possession but one, when the Rams fumbled
the ball as time expired in the first quarter. Credit Kentwood's bruising
linebacker Anthony
Quinn with the hit and Aaron Winstrom with the recovery there.
But credit
the Rams defense for holding the Falcons to three-downs-and-out on
the proceeding series. Ten plays later, Kurtis Salter ran in
a 3-yard
touchdown, giving the Rams a 13-3 lead. But 14 seconds later, the Falcons
answered with a Michael Simon school-record 98-yard kickoff
return, narrowing the score to 13-10. The teams continued to
exchange touchdowns as Kyle Osborn's 10-yard run gave the Rams
a 20-10 lead at halftime. Then Kentwood quarterback
Kyle
Perry raced
in from the 2-yard line to narrow it to 20-17 with 5:50 left in the
third.
From there, it was all Rockford.
The Rams recovered two straight fumbles by Brian Amey and Drew
Lindrup and scored on their
next four possessions:
two
field goals,
a 7-yard run by Zach Breen and Klukowski's touchdown romp. "
I thought our defense played tough, played well, we tried not to
give away the big plays, and we did all right there, but they still
made field goals," said
Kentwood coach Tim Wauben, who is the first first-year coach in the
Falcons' storied history to win his first five games. "But those
turnovers against a good team is something we cannot afford to do."
Kentwood
kicker Saban Sehic, a recruit from the soccer team, also booted
a 23-yard field goal.