By Mike Moll
Wyoming-Kentwood News Today Contributor
greer@wktv.org
The East Kentwood Falcons brought their high-flying offense to Caledonia Friday night to meet the Fighting Scots in a battle for the OK Red. East Kentwood came in at 6-0 overall, while the Scots were 5-1, and both teams were atop the league standings at 4-0.
It was Homecoming for Caledonia, but when the lights were turned off at the end of the night, the Falcons were sitting alone in the lead after a hard-fought 49-27 victory. While the Falcon offense scored four touchdowns, it was the defense and special teams that made the difference. More to come, but specifically, it was Austin Nelson who made the difference.
Scots take 14-0 lead into the second quarter
Caledonia took the initial lead as Falcon quarterback Colin O’Connor was intercepted at the Scots 31 yard-line by Aaron Collins, who returned it 69 yards for the score. After stopping the Falcons next possession, the Scots went ahead 14-0 when Robert Restau took a screen pass from Bryce Backus for another 69-yard touchdown near the end of the first quarter.
The Falcons got on the board with just under nine minutes left in the half on a 1-yard run by Dallas Moody on a drive highlighted by a 36-yard completion from O’Connor to Stephan Jones and then Jayden Garcia kicked the extra point. The Falcon defense forced the Scots to punt after a quick three-and-out possession, getting the ball at their own 30. O’Connor found Jones again for a 41-yard gain and then connected with Ezekiel Ferrell for a 20-yard TD to tie the game up at 14 after the extra point.
Falcons grab first lead with around 5 minutes left in first half
Nelson then made his first statement of the night on the Scots initial play from scrimmage when he intercepted a Backus pass and ran it 40 yards for his own pick-6, giving the Falcons two touchdowns in the span of 13 seconds and their first lead with just over 5 minutes to go in the half.
The Scots were not done as they answered with a four-minute drive capped by a 32-yard touchdown from Backus to Lincoln Senti.
21-all heading into the locker room
Caledonia intercepted an O’Connor pass again with just over a minute and a half to go, but would fail to connect on a 32-yard field goal with five seconds left in the half, sending the teams to the locker rooms all tied at 21.
Falcons take lead for good at 28-21
The Falcons won the opening coin flip and deferred to get the ball to start the second half. After the Scots Landry Mueller kicked the ball out of bounds, Falcons Coach Tyrone Spencer chose to accept the penalty instead of getting the ball on his own 35. That set up Nelson for his next statement as he returned the kick 72 yards untouched into the end zone giving the Falcons a lead they would not relinquish, 28-21.
The Scots mounted a drive of 80 yards for a score of their own, highlighted by runs of 29 yards from Restau and a 26-yarder by Backus, capped off by a 2-yard TD by Conlan Schultz, but the extra point was missed by Mueller, leaving the score 28-27 EK with just under 8 minutes left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Nelson proved some good things do come in threes as he returned another kickoff for 87 yards and his third TD on the night, giving the Falcons a 35-27 lead.
After another 3-and-out for the Scots, East Kentwood used up over four minutes on the clock before a 1-yard touchdown by Jones to make it 42-27.
The Falcons then tacked on a final score with just under four minutes left in the game as O’Connor connected for a 7-yard TD pass to Moody. East Kentwood led 49-27 after the extra point.
O’Connor had over 220 yards with two touchdowns passing on the night with Jones being his favorite target at 115 yards. He had seven different receivers on the night. Ace Bryant led with 70 yards on the ground.
The Falcons are now 7-0 overall, 5-0 in the OK Red and head to West Ottawa Friday. The Panthers are 2-5 overall, 1-4 in the Red. To get at least a share of the Red Championship locked up Friday night while Caledonia fell to 5-2 overall, 4-1 in the Red and travels to Grand Haven to face the 4-3, 2-3 Buccaneers.
