Sophomore QB helps Jenison dump Rockford
By Gary Bond / The Grand Rapids Press
JENISON -- The latest Jenison
quarterback was unveiled at David McKenzie Stadium Friday
night. And it was a successful debut. Sophomore Robert
Topp, who was filling in for injured senior quarterback Mike
Szymanski tangled with O-K Red Conference
rival Rockford.
State playoff hopes were on the
line for the Wildcats, as well as lingering conference title
hopes.
Topp did his part in leading
Jenison to a stunning 19-14 victory over the Rams.
Topp's
numbers aren't exactly impressive, completing 4-of-6 passes
for 50 yards and rushing for 37 yards on 22 carries. He scored
on a 4-yard run to tie the contest at 7-7 in the second quarter.
A number of Topp's runs, though, were for first downs or
put the Wildcats in position to sustain the drive. It was the
first
time Jenison beat Rockford since the 2000 season, which was
the first for Wildcats head coach Dave Larkin.
Larkin was
conservative with his offensive play-calling and had a great
deal of confidence in his defense. Defensively, Jenison recovered
three Rockford fumbles, stopped the Rams twice from reaching
the end zone at the 1-yard
line and the interception by Jordan Banta on the game's final
play capped arguably the biggest win of the season for
the
Wildcats.
"
We know we have a good defense, but the offense did a great job
in the second half eating up a lot of time and that helped
us," Larkin
said. "We told our players they would remember this
night for the rest of their lives, so they might as well
win. "
Topp did a was fantastic job for a sophomore," he added. "What
a great stage to be unveiled on. This was a great win for
our seniors and our entire program."
Rockford scored first
on a 1-yard run by quarterback Jon Voneschen, who completed
14-of-25 passes for 202 yards
and an interception.
It would be Rockford's only lead in the game. After Topp's
rushing touchdown to tie the game, the Wildcats stopped the
Rams on downs on their next possession and
marched 40 yards for the go-ahead score, a 4-yard run
by Ben Gosset.
With 38 seconds left before halftime,
Rockford moved the football from its own 40-yard line on
the ensuing
kickoff
to the Jenison
1-yard line with 2.8 seconds on the clock. Rockford
head coach Ralph Munger decided to go for the touchdown calling
a running play that was stuffed
for
a 4-yard loss. "
You know what -- I would do it again," Munger said referring
to the play just before halftime. "Our guys have
to learn to go after that yard harder.
" It's tough to win when you put the football on the turf as many
times as we did, but Jenison did an outstanding job eating up
the clock.
" For us it was just another
growing-up experience and every week is a new adventure for
us." The big fumble for the Rams occurred with 1:07 left
in the game on the Jenison 31-yard line on a exchange
from
quarterback-to-running
back. Jenison's Joseph Davis fell on the loose football
and the
Wildcats were able to run down the clock 16.6 seconds
before they had to punt.
Two pass plays ended Rockford's
come-from-behind effort, an incomplete and an interception.
Jenison's only second half score came on a 10-yard fumble return
by Matthew Banta. Voneschen scored
on an 8-yard
run for the Rams.
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