Rockford uses big plays to turn back West Ottawa
By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press
ROCKFORD -- The Rockford
football team needed to regain momentum.
The Rams had just seen their comfortable halftime lead cut in
half after an interception return for a touchdown right out of
the break.
That was followed by a three-and-out on Rockford's next offensive
possession, and the visiting West Ottawa Panthers were ready
roll.
In stepped Rams junior defensive lineman D.J. Lubs, who intercepted
a Tyler VanTubbergen pass on a tipped ball by senior defensive
lineman Cameron Reid.
Two plays later, Rockford scored and eventually pulled away
for an important 34-21 win over West Ottawa.
The win keeps Rockford's O-K Red Conference title hopes alive,
and sets up a Friday showdown at unbeaten Muskegon, which beat
East Kentwood on Friday.
"I think that interception helped, but it wasn't all me," Lubs
said. "Cam got a hand on it and blocked it and I just reacted.
"We know we have Muskegon next week, but we concentrated
on West Ottawa because we knew they were a good football team.
They had won three straight and needed a win over us to get into
the playoffs, so we knew they were going to play well."
On a night when the offense struggled against a stout West Ottawa
defense, Rockford coach Ralph Munger said he was happy to see
his team capitalize on a blocked punt, a 90-yard kickoff return
for a touchdown by senior Cory Wohlford and an interception by
one of his defensive linemen that set up a 17-yard touchdown
run by senior running back Alex Caurdy.
"A lot of crazy things happened out there," Munger
said. "That interception was huge. It got us back in the
game -- it definitely was momentum changing."
The Lubs interception was one of two thrown by VanTubbergen.
"We had too many mistakes tonight," West Ottawa coach
Jim Caserta said. "We give them the ball at the 1 on the
blocked punt and miss an assignment on the kickoff return. We
had a bunch of mistakes tonight, and you can't do that against
a good team. Our defense didn't play too bad, and I was proud
of the way my guys fought all night."
VanTubbergen ended the night completing 21-of-46 passes for
227 yards.
The Panthers defense limited Rockford to 175 total yards.
Rockford quarterback Robert Banaszak threw for 69 yards and
a score, while Caurdy had 23 yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.
"Right now we are going to enjoy this one," Munger
said. "This was the seniors' last regular-season home game
at (Ted Carlson Memorial Stadium), and that's always big for
them. Tomorrow, we'll start getting ready for next week."
