District Playoffs: Rockford Rams 21. Hudsonville Eagles 13

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ROCKFORD RAMS - DISTRICT CHAMPIONS

Rockford pulls off fourth-quarter rally to stun Hudsonville, win Division 1 district title

By Lenny Padilla | grsports@mlive.com  on November 06, 2015 

ROCKFORD, MI - Ralph Munger has been coaching football for more than three decades. So when the Rockford High School coach saysTyler Bradfield is one of the best athletes in school history, it means something.

Bradfield turned on the afterburners and scored on a 72-yard touchdown run to open the fourth quarter as Rockford rallied to beat Hudsonville 21-13 on Friday night to win a Division 1 district championship. Rockford trailed 13-0 entering the fourth quarter.

The Rams improve to 8-3 and advance to play Grand Ledge. Hudsonville ends its season 7-4.  

“He is, by far, one of the best athletes that we’ve had here in 23 years,” Munger said of Bradfield. “He’s the whole package.”

He’s also the quarterback, something he wasn’t planning on doing when the season started. Bradfield, normally a running back and receiver, has started the past two games, filling in for starter Jason Whittaker, who is out for the season.

“Tyler does not ever surprise me,” Munger said. “Tyler is such a gifted athlete that you just sit back and enjoy and take it all in when he’s on the field, whether it's offense, defense or special teams.”

Hudsonville running back Dalton Agers scored on a 45-yard run in the first quarter and on a 2-yard run in the third for a 13-0 lead. 

Rockford senior Hunter Novak said his team never stopped believing it could come back.

“Coach said ‘Just to keep staying positive. We can come back’ and we fought back and did it,” Novak said. “It feels great. We’re always big rivals. They’re a really good school just like us.”

Bradfield opened the fourth quarter with a 72-yard run. 

“It felt good to finally break through,” Bradfield said. “We had gotten into their territory, but we could never seem to finish. To get some points on the board really helped us a lot.”

He then connected with Jackson Ammon for a 17-yard touchdown pass with 7:30 to go. Ammon, a senior tight end, was wide open on the right side of the end zone.

With 2:01 to go, Novak took a handoff from Bradfield and scored on a 2-yard run to cap the scoring. 

It was a tough pill to swallow for Hudsonville, which had beaten the Rams each of the past two postseasons. 

“They hit one big run with Bradfield there,” Hudsonville coach Dave Lidgard said. “They had us guessing a little bit on defense. He’s just so explosive. If you make one little mistake, he’ll bring it to the house.”

Bradfield, who finished with 120 yards rushing on nine carries and 30 yards passing, was happy his season isn’t over.

“It means the world to me after being knocked out by them the past two years,” he said. “It left a sour taste in our mouths.”

Agers finished with a team-high 111 yards rushing on 15 carries and two touchdowns.

“He’s been a really good player for us all year on both sides of the ball,” Lidgard said of the junior. “We ask him to do a lot. He’s probably close to a 1,000 yards rushing, he’s got over 100 tackles, he calls the defense … he’s just a real gritty runner.”

GAME NOTES
*Rockford QB Tyler Bradfield looked like he had scored on a 36-yard run in the third quarter, but it was called back because of an illegal motion penalty.

*Hudsonville had a play in the third quarter where the Eagles had attempted a reverse, then threw the ball back to QB Bryce Elliott, who lobbed a pass toJackson Russo. Russo, a senior, completed a 44-yard play, stepping out of bounds at the 5-yard line. That set up a touchdown run by Dalton Agers to make it 13-0 with 6:52 left in the quarter. 

*Rockford senior lineman Gabe Baumann, who stands 6-foot-3, 260 pounds, had 2 1/2 sacks in the game, including a huge sack of Hudsonville QB Elliott with 1:37 left in the game. 

*Munger had a sidekick while doing postgame interviews. His 8-year-old grandson, Thys Michael, had a big smile on his face when he got a hug from his grandpa. So is Thys going to play for his grandpa some day?
“I hope so,” he said while wearing an orange Rockford football jersey.

*Rockford won Division 1 state championships in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Clarkston High School won the past two Division 1 state championships. Hudsonville has not won a football state title. 

*Rockford senior kicker Quinn Nordin, who verbally committed to Penn State, returned to play on Friday. He had missed three or four games because of injury. He took kickoffs, but teammate Sam Corey kicked the extra points. 

*This was the third-straight year that Rockford and Hudsonville have met in the Division 1 district final. Hudsonville won 37-15 in 2014 and 19-14 in 2013. 

*The Rockford roster lists 89 players and Hudsonville has 61. The only freshman on either roster is Jack Richardson, a 5-foot-8 running back who was called up from JV. 

*Rockord has made 21 straight appearances in the playoffs, which is the third most in MHSAA history and the longest active streak. Iron Mountain North Dickinson (1991-2013) holds the record with 23 straight. Traverse City St. Francis (1990-2011) is second with 22 in a row.