Rockford Rams 10, Hudsonville Eagles 13

Hudsonville makes the big play in victory over Rockford Saturday
By Jane Bos

In a game of some astounding plays -- one gutsy 16-yard fourth-down play, two punts rolling inside the 3-yard line, and too many big hits to count -- Hudsonville tight end JD Steenland came up with the most astonishing. Deep in Rockford's end zone, he jumped above the Rams defender in front of him, tipped the ball and landed on his back. Then he caught the ball, scoring the decisive touchdown in Hudsonville's 13-10 victory over Rockford.

The play not only sealed the Eagles' first O-K Red Metro Conference championship in their second year in the tough league, it also gave them a contest at nationally ranked and unbeaten Muskegon, the Red Lakeshore champion, in a crossover game next week.

Unbeaten Hudsonville, ranked sixth in Division 2, last won a conference title -- the O-K White -- in 1998. The last time the Eagles went unbeaten was in 1978, when they were 8-0-1. The team never has gone without a blemish on its regular-season record, though. " I am just so excited right now, it's unbelievable," said Steenland, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior. "We came out here and took it to them. It was a great team effort." Come on, enough talk about that stuff. Let's hear about The Play. " Ah, it was all right, I don't know," he said, smiling and shrugging. "I was able to catch it somehow."

It was plays like that which beat Rockford, according to coach Ralph Munger, who still is one win shy of 100 career victories at Rockford during his 13-year tenure. That and other things. " Oh, we had a couple big plays ourselves, but the team that made the biggest plays, and they really had a number of them, it seemed like, and the team with the most discipline, won tonight, without question," he said. "There was some nonsense which went on with our guys, very uncharacteristic of this group."

Munger is refering to the number of penalties -- 10 -- committed in the game for 85 yards in loss. Due to these pentalites and the Eagles, Division 1's third-ranked Rams finished tied for second in the conference. The whistles included two personal fouls. " Not to take anything away from Hudsonville, they played a great game, but we need to stop that," Munger said. "We will go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get a little better." That might have been all the Rams needed Friday. Just a little bit more in the second half. In the first half, they had the edge.

Trailing 6-0 after Eagles senior Cody Weiss scored from the 2-yard line midway through the first quarter, Rockford responded with a 12-play, 90-yard scoring drive of its own. Sean O'Rourke muscled in for a 10-yard score, and after Steve Kamphuis booted in the conversion kick, the Rams led 7-6. Kamphuis kicked a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter to give Rockford a 10-6 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Eagles stepped up their defense. And Steenland caught The Pass from senior quarterback Matt Naber to secure the win. Steenland also recovered a fumble late in the third quarter. "Our receivers have been great all year going up and finding the ball, snatching it out of the air," said Hudsonville coach Dave Duram. "They did a nice job again tonight. But credit our offensive line, which struggled the last couple weeks. They did a good job against a good defense."

So credit the line -- tackles James Baguley and Jon VanSpyker, guards Jordan DeVleiger and Bryan Klobucar and center Nate Lindtrom -- for helping the tight ends, Steenland and Jesse Reimink, and the receivers, Brandon Bosch and Jared Hensley, rack up 162 yards in receptions Friday.


photo by Dave Weatherwax, GR Press

photo by Dave Weatherwax, GR Press

photo by Dave Weatherwax, GR Press